Grief is a Heavy Burden
by Sailorstar165
Summary: Grief is a heavy burden, and no one knows that better than the Pierrot Mana Walker. But when he stumbles across Allen, the child his brother had entrusted with his memories, can he at last put that grief to rest?
1. The Pierrot and the Child

"Is he dead?"

Mana was brought back from his thoughts by that simple question. He'd been staring blankly at his dead dog, not shedding a single tear as he set the dog in the shallow grave he'd dug for him in the cold December ground.

"He's dead," Mana confirmed, not looking up from his former "assistant's" corpse. He stole a glance at the child—he looked a little familiar somehow, but Mana couldn't place from where.

"He's covered in bruises," the child commented. He came closer, but still stayed a small distance from the clown and his dog.

Mana simply nodded and started burying his old friend. He listened as the boy accused Cosimo, one of the other performers in the circus, of beating the poor dog to death. He could tell by how the child spoke of him that he knew first hand of what Cosimo could do when he was mad or jealous.

"He was an old dog. He wouldn't have lived much longer, anyway." Mana set a single juggling ball—his dog's favorite one—on the grave to act as marker for his old friend. There wasn't much else he could do for him now.

The boy sat next to Mana, but still kept space between them. He watched Mana brush the dirt off his hands, then frowned. "You're not gonna get revenge?"

"If I do that, I'll get thrown out of here and not get paid," Mana said. He put his hands together and said a quick prayer for his dead friend. He noticed from the corner of his eye that the boy seemed almost irritated with his pacifistic response.

Really, Mana didn't care if he got revenge or not. What point was there? Revenge wouldn't bring his dog back. In the end, it would only hurt anyone involved. Mana had learned that time and time again in his many years.

"I'm a newcomer, after all," Mana continued once his little prayer had been said. "After tomorrow, I'll move onto somewhere new."

"I see."

Mana could detect the slightest hint of envy in the boy's voice. _So he wants to leave, too,_ he thought, watching the boy from the corner of his eye again. There was something familiar about the boy, something familiar in the way he held his head and scowled off in the distance. It reminded him of someone... but who?

"Who are you, anyway?" Mana at last asked. He'd long since given up on being embarrassed about his having to ask for names to go with the faces he recognized. He'd met so many people, it was difficult for him to remember which name went with which face, or if he'd even met that person before.

"I do odd jobs around here," the boy explained with a sigh. "I've brought you dinner before." He seemed used to being ignored and forgotten.

"I have a bad memory when it comes to faces," Mana admitted. Why was he telling this boy about himself? Maybe it was that familiarity... He finally looked at the boy directly and frowned. "You're covered in bruises!" he said, surprised. He licked his finger and started rubbing at one of the blotches on Allen's face. He wanted to make sure the injuries weren't as bad as they seemed with all the dirt caked on.

"Ew! Gross!" The boy scrambled away from the clown, at last taking his hand out of his pocket to swat Mana's hand away. "Get your spit off me!"

Mana smiled. This boy really did remind him of someone, but he still couldn't think who. "Did Cosimo beat you up?"

"Shut up," the boy grumbled. He wiped away Mana's spit with his left hand, the one that had been in his pocket, at last giving Mana a good view of it. It was red and scaly and disgusting looking.

"Don't you have any friends?" Mana asked.

"Shut up!"

He'd hit a sore spot with that question. Mana felt sorry for the boy next to him. His hand probably put a damper on any relationship he tried to start, so he'd given up on starting any. That would certainly explain his lack of patience and respect for Mana. _Poor boy. So young, yet already seeing the cruelty of this world._

Mana didn't have a chance to apologize for his question before the boy started speaking again. "When I grow up... I'm getting out of here, soon as I'm strong enough, so I don't need any friends."

_Poor boy._ Mana decided he had to do something to get the boy to smile, to show him that the whole world wasn't quite as cruel as he seemed to be making it. He made a face. In retrospect, it was probably stupid, but most kids laughed at it.

"What are you doing?" the boy asked, his voice flat with irritation. It was hard to believe the boy was still just a child.

Mana stopped making his face. "You didn't think it was funny?" he asked, tilting his head in amusement. Even adults laughed when he made stupid faces.

"I hate clowns," was the boy's simple response.

"Well I hate children who don't laugh once in a while," Mana replied. He wondered if he'd gone too far with the comment, since the boy didn't say anything, but when he glanced over at him, the boy seemed pensive, like he was actually considering it.

"Aren't... you gonna cry?" the boy mumbled at last. He'd gone back to staring at the dog's grave. "He was with you a really long time, right? Aren't you sad?"

"So sad I could die," Mana replied, pulling a rope from his sleeve. He made a quick noose and pretended to hang himself.

"Quit it!" the boy shouted. It was hard to tell if he was scared that Mana would actually do such a thing or mad that the man would even consider joking about something like that. Mana could tell that the boy thought him crazy, either way.

"I can't cry," Mana said, undoing his noose so the boy wouldn't have any reason to panic. "Maybe my tears have all dried up. They just... won't come."

The child stared at Mana a minute, then turned back to the grave. He didn't believe him, but what was new about that? Few believed Mana when he said he could no longer cry. Few had seen the tragedies Mana had seen for so long, after all. The few who had broke and either died or continued living, a shell of their former selves. Mana liked to think he was neither, but he knew he was just as broken as all the others.

"What... was his name?" the child asked at last. He looked at his deformed hand. "He licked my hand yesterday. His tongue was warm..." Tears were rolling down his cheeks. "How come I'm crying over him?" He sobbed, and finally, he looked like the child he should have been.

"I see," Mana said. It at last made sense to him. The boy reminded him of his brother... The brother he'd long since lost.

Mana's eyes widened. _No,_ he thought. He kneeled next to the sobbing boy. _He didn't. Allen, you didn't!_ "Boy, what's your name?" he asked, just barely able to mask the urgency in his voice.

"Allen," the boy hiccuped between sobs.

Everything Mana's brother said came back to him. _"I'm gonna leave someone for you, Mana,_" he'd said. _"I'm gonna give someone my memories so that when the Earl catches up to me, you won't be all alone."_

"Allen, do you want to come with me?" Mana asked. "I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll be going far away from here."

The boy's eyes widened. "W-why would you want me?" he sniffled.

"It gets lonely traveling," Mana explained. "My dog was my companion, but now I'll be all alone again."

Allen frowned, almost pouted. "You just want me to replace your dog."

"Hey, Nicoli was a smart dog."

"I don't care how smart he was, I'm not replacing your dog."

"You're not replacing Nicoli," Mana said, exasperated. He had to get Allen to come with him, but he wanted the child to come willingly. Mana was a clown, not a kidnapper.

"What if I don't want to leave?"

"You told me before you did."

"What if I don't want to go with you?"

"You can leave any time you want. I'm not forcing you to stick around with me."

Allen tilted his head. "Why do you want me around?"

"We already went through this. It gets lonely traveling, and—"

"That's not what I meant." Allen stood and brushed the dirt from his pants. "Why _me_? Why not just go find another dog or something?"

Mana pursed his lips. _You have my brother's memories, for one thing,_ he thought stubbornly. "I have my reasons."

"Are you gonna tell me them?"

Mana was glad for the clown make up he was wearing. He could feel himself blushing. "I'd like the company of a person who'll tell me what they think," he lied. He had three reasons for wanting Allen to come with him, two being from guilt, the third being more complicated and embarrassing.

The guilt reasons were obvious. His brother had forced this boy to take his memories, even if the child didn't realize it. Mana was going to take care of him as an apology. Then there was the fact that Mana was a rather good magician. Even as they spoke, Mana was running through his head all the spells that he'd ever learned, trying to find the right one to seal the Fourteenth's memories so that this boy could continue being who he was and not who the Fourteenth once was.

The third reason was rather personal, as far as Mana was concerned. His brother had teased him for years about it, but all Mana really wanted in life was to settle down and have a family. The problem was, Mana couldn't have children. His magic had taken that away from him. He wasn't going to tell Allen that, of course.

"You're lying, Mr." Allen started walking away, but stopped. "Hey, Mr."

"Hmm?"

"Are you really gonna take me with you?"

"That's what I've been saying."

"You're not just gonna dump me off at some sweatshop?"

"Of course not."

Allen turned back and came closer to Mana. "You don't... hate me because of my hand?"

Mana laughed and leaned closer. "Between you and me, I have webbed toes."

"Eh?! Really?!"

"No, but I know someone who does."

Allen grinned. "So when're we leaving?"

"We'll leave tomorrow, soon as I get paid."

Allen's smile grew. He hugged Mana around the middle.

_So quick to trust me..._ Mana thought, patting Allen on the head. _I wonder if he made it that way...?_

* * *

Well, first chapter!

This is my second fic with Mana and Allen in it, so tell me if you see any blaring errors.

Hope you enjoyed it and will continue reading!


	2. The Magician and the General

It was late morning by the time Mana left the circus with Allen. It was snowing pretty hard, but Mana had things he needed to get done.

"Are we walking the whole way?" Allen asked. He shifted the small sack of his few belongings on his shoulder.

"Are you complaining already?" Mana asked. He was carrying a suitcase with his few possessions in one hand and holding Allen's hand with his other.

"No," Allen replied quickly before shuffling through the snow next to Mana.

They walked for a while, occasionally stopping whenever Allen needed to catch his breath. Mana was used to walking, and he had much longer legs. The poor boy was having trouble keeping up, especially through the deepening snow. By the time they stopped for lunch, Allen was shivering terribly and was stumbling through knee-deep snow.

The inn they stopped at was at least warm inside, even if the food wasn't the greatest. Still, Allen didn't seem to mind, judging from the way he ate all of his food and half of Mana's. Mana didn't mind. The boy had walked pretty far, after all, and Mana was used to going hungry every so often.

"Well? Shall we?" Mana stood, but the barkeep stopped him.

"You won't be goin' anywhere today. S'posed to keep snowin' like this all night." The barkeep looked worriedly at Allen, who was hardly dressed for the weather. "It's s'posed to be really cold. Not a good idea to be goin' places."

Mana glanced down at Allen, then turned back to the barkeep. "I'm afraid we don't have a lot of money to spare."

"Rooms're cheap," the barkeep replied. "'Sides, it's better 'n catchin' yer death out there."

There was no arguing with logic like that. Mana agreed and took a key from the barkeep. He nodded when the man gave him directions to their room upstairs.

Allen led the way up the stairway and to their room. Mana had to laugh at the child's sudden burst of energy. Allen had probably never stayed in an inn before, let alone in a remotely comfortable bed. Mana hoped he wouldn't be disappointed.

The inside of the room was nice, if plain, much to Mana's relief. He'd been half-expecting a draft or bugs or a leak somewhere, but the simple room didn't seem to have anything wrong with it. "What do you think?" Mana asked Allen.

Allen was already stretched out on one of the two small beds. Mana had to admit it didn't take much to make the boy happy.

There was a knock, and a young girl poked her head into the open room. "Um... Is everything okay?"

"Yes, just fine," Mana replied. She was probably the barkeep's daughter, judging by her red hair and emerald green eyes. "Thank you for asking."

"Um..." the girl glanced over at Allen, who was already falling asleep, then back at Mana. "Daddy said that the bathroom's down the stairs to the left. He forgot to mention it and, um... said that your son's welcome to the tub."

Mana had to laugh. Allen certainly looked a mess. "Tell him thank you for me, would you?"

The girl bobbed her head in a quick nod and rushed away.

"Allen, come on. We need to clean you up."

Allen opened an eye lazily. "Why?" he asked, yawning.

"You look like a street urchin."

"Well, I am one," Allen replied before rolling on his side to get more sleep.

Mana rolled his eyes. "Not with me, you aren't. Come on." He pulled Allen up off the bed and led him down the stairs to the bathroom, which was just big enough for a toilet, sink, and bath. Mana closed the door behind them and locked it.

"All right, let's get you cleaned up." Mana turned on the bath's faucet to give the water a chance to warm up. At least the pipes weren't frozen yet.

"I can take a bath by myself," Allen muttered. "I'm not stupid."

Mana had to choke down a laugh. "Allen, you look like you haven't _ever_ had a proper bath."

"So? It can't be that tough." Allen touched his left hand.

_So that's why,_ Mana thought. _He doesn't want me to see his arm._ Allen knew his strange arm meant nothing to Mana, so why was he always trying to hide it? Of course, Mana was able to answer his own question. _Habit._

"If you're embarrassed—"

"I'm not embarrassed about my arm," Allen snapped. His grip on his shirtsleeve tightened. He was definitely embarrassed. "I just don't like people lookin' at it."

"If it makes you feel better, I have webbed feet."

"You already said you lied about that yesterday," Allen muttered.

_Shoot._ So he'd used the lie already. Mana turned back to the tub, ran the water over his hand to check the temperature, then plugged the drain so it could fill up.

"I don't want your help," Allen mumbled.

"I'm helping whether you want it or not," Mana replied. "Now do you need me to undress you or can you do that yourself?"

Allen blushed. "Of course I can do that myself!" he snapped. He swayed from foot to foot a minute, embarrassment still written all over his face. "Don't look."

Mana covered his eyes while Allen undressed and climbed in the tub. _He's just like my brother,_ Mana thought with a sigh. That was the problem. He was just like his brother because his brother had given the boy his memories.

"Okay, you can look now."

Mana rolled his eyes behind his hands before he let them drop. He sighed in dismay as he noticed the water already turning a muddy brown from the dirt caked on the boy. _This is going to take a while..._

* * *

It took an hour and three times refilling the tub before Mana was satisfied he'd gotten at least the majority of dirt and mud off of Allen. It didn't help that the boy really had no idea how to wash himself and had to fight tooth and nail every time Mana tried to wash his hair. Still, he managed to get Allen looking at least clean, even if he still looked like he'd just come off the streets.

"I knew there was a boy under all that dirt," Mana said happily as he led Allen back to their room.

"Ha ha, very funny," Allen grumbled. He hadn't been too thrilled with the whole experience. He'd probably fight next time Mana forced him to take a bath, too. He flopped on the bed again and yawned sleepily.

"Take a nap. It's a couple hours until dinner anyway." Mana pulled a deck of cards out of his suitcase and started playing solitaire. Occasionally, he'd glance up to check if Allen was out cold yet or not. He didn't want Allen to wake up while he sealed the Fourteenth's memories.

Once he was certain Allen wouldn't wake up—the boy seemed to be a heavy sleeper—Mana stood and tiptoed over to the boy. He'd decided the spell a little before they'd left the circus, and he'd been running it through his head since, making sure he knew every detail that was needed, every symbol, every word. One screw up with a spell that powerful and he could reduce Allen to a drooling vegetable.

He took a deep breath. It was now or never. He laid a hand gently on Allen's head. Allen mumbled something in his sleep but didn't wake up. Mana traced two connecting symbols on Allen's forehead. The invisible lines he made glowed as his thumb passed over Allen's skin. Mana whispered the words to the spell carefully, making sure to enunciate each syllable. Volume had nothing to do with the strength of the spell; it all had to do with willpower and how well you called the magic to life.

The symbols sparked, and Allen groaned in his sleep. The magic was there in the symbols; now Mana had to tell it exactly what to seal.

_"The Fourteenth Noah's memories,"_ Mana whispered in the language of magic. _"I want you to bind those, but not harm the child's mind._"

The magic sparked again, understanding its master's command. Then the symbols flashed brightly and snuffed themselves out in the blink of an eye. There was no sign the symbols had ever been there, no sign that Mana had used magic except for the tired feeling that came with its use.

Exhausted, Mana sat back down in his chair. There'd be no way to tell if the spell had worked until Allen woke up, and he wasn't going to wake up Allen for fear of what he'd find. It had been so long since he'd cast his last spell... What if he'd messed up? What if he'd destroyed the child Allen's mind and left the Fourteenth's? What if he hadn't put enough magic in the symbols and the whole spell just flopped?

A knock at the door drew Mana from his silent questions. He stood a bit stiffly—he'd been sitting cross-legged on the chair like he always did when worried—and hobbled over to the door. It was the same little girl from earlier.

"Is something wrong?"

"Um... I forgot to tell you when dinner was," the girl muttered. "It's in an hour, and... Oh! There's someone here who wanted to see you."

Mana wore the calm mask he'd perfected for his performances. They couldn't have found him. What reason would they have _to_ find him? It wasn't like he was a Noah. He was just a Noah's brother and a rather talented magician. "Did you get a name?"

"Um... he said his name was Cross and—"

Mana patted the girl's head, both relieved and mad, though he didn't let it show through his smile. "Thank you. I'll be down in a minute."

The girl nodded and left, once again in a rush.

_Just who I wanted to see,_ Mana thought as he closed the door behind him. Allen wouldn't worry too much if he left him alone. His things were still there, and like the barkeep said earlier, it was practically a blizzard outside.

He smelled Cross's cigarettes before he saw the redheaded general. The man was sitting in a chair in the back of the tavern. Mana could already tell he wanted to talk about something important.

"What do you want, Cross?" Mana asked angrily.

"Calm down and have a seat," the general replied, nodding to the chair across from him. Once Mana was seated, Cross handed his cigarette to the gold golem sitting on the table, which happily swallowed it.

"You've reduced my golem to an ash tray, I see," Mana observed. It wasn't that he hated Cross, but the man could be so infuriating sometimes.

"If I remember correctly, Timcanpy belonged to the Fourteenth," Cross corrected.

"_I'm_ the one who made him."

"True." Cross leaned back in his chair. "Timcanpy was supposed to find the Fourteenth's successor, or that's what your brother told him to do before handing him over to me."

Mana frowned. So Cross had been in on it the whole time. "So?"

"So Timcanpy lost the trail. He led me all the way to a circus and we ended up trailing you and that boy. What did you do."

"I made things the way they should be."

Cross raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were the one to think things through," he commented.

"I did," Mana growled. A little bit of Cross went a long way. "I sealed the Fourteenth's memories. They aren't gone—yet—but they will be if I have anything to say about it. That boy's a person, not a host for my brother to use as he pleases."

Cross sighed. "You still haven't forgiven yourself for that fight you two had."

"You're changing the subject."

"I felt it needed to be changed."

Mana petted the golden golem that had inched closer to him. Timcanpy was getting huge, which meant he'd recorded quite a bit. "You know, I don't know how much information Tim can remember before he breaks."

"Now you're the one changing the subject."

"I felt it needed to be changed."

Cross smiled, his own words used against him. "You should be careful. You never know when they'll finally catch up to you. You don't want to be near that boy when and if it happens."

"I know," Mana mumbled. He knew what would happen if the Noah or the Earl caught wind that he'd adopted the boy, too. There was a long pause between the two, then, "Would you keep an eye on him if that happens?"

"If you get caught? Sure. I'll take care of the brat for you."

"He's not that bad once you get to know him."

"A brat's still a brat."

Mana chuckled sadly. Cross and his brother had never quite seen eye to eye, which was probably why Cross considered the boy a brat before even meeting him.

Again, there was silence, until at last Mana asked, "How's your arm doing?"

"I don't ask you about your price," Cross replied.

"Mine doesn't change."

Cross pulled out another cigarette and started smoking it. Magic had a different price for everyone who used it. Mana's price was a little different than the normal magician's. He'd only had to pay one price—his ability to have children—while most had to pay for each spell they cast. In Cross's case, his body was slowly dying and rotting with every spell.

"Nothing's shown up yet. It's just a little stiff when I move it." He lifted his arm to show that that was the case.

"Good, I'm glad there's _some_ good news in this world," Mana said. He glanced out the window, where it was still a blizzard.

"You really don't like staying put, do you?"

Mana smiled ruefully. "No, I don't. I'm a Pierrot, a traveling clown. I have to keep walking—"

"—no matter where to," Cross finished. "So where's the brat?"

"Back in the room, sleeping. You're not seeing him."

"Afraid seeing me might break whatever spell you put on him?" Cross asked in a low voice. Talking of magic in public was never a good idea, especially when you were in hiding like Mana was.

"I'm not sure if I did it properly. I'd rather not risk it," Mana mumbled. "Besides, what would he say if you showed up with Timcanpy anyway? He'd panic if he didn't recognize you!"

"That's true." Cross stood to leave.

"And where do you think your going?"

"To my room. I'm stuck here too, if you hadn't noticed." He offered his good arm to Timcanpy, who climbed up it until he was sitting on top of his hat. "Don't worry, I'll stay away from the brat."

Mana followed Cross up the stairs. The general was staying at the end of the hallway, it seemed, farthest from the steps. He and Allen, meanwhile, were closest. There were three doors in a row on this floor. For a moment, Mana was curious who'd gotten the room between them, but only for a moment.

When he entered his room again, he found Allen right where he'd left him, sleeping. He was going to wake him up, but there was a knock at the door. Again.

"Um..." Again, it was the girl. She seemed rather forgetful, but it was probably because she was so young. She seemed hardly Allen's age, after all. "Mom said to give you these, since your son's clothes looked pretty bad." She held out some neatly folded clothes. They looked like they'd seen better days, but they were better than what Allen was wearing now. "Oh, and dinner's just about ready, if you want to head downstairs again."

"Tell your mother thank you for me," Mana called after her when she ran away for the third time that day. He turned back to Allen and shook the boy's shoulders gently. "Time to wake up."

The boy sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He seemed a little disoriented, but that was only natural since an entire lifetime of memories was now missing from his subconscious. Or that was what Mana hoped had happened, at least. "Mana?" he questioned. He looked around the room. "Where are we again?"

"We're at an inn. It started snowing, remember?" Mana sat on the bed next to Allen. He'd already said he was bad at names. He'd have to ask sooner or later. "I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name again."

"Allen's not that hard to remember," the boy grumbled before yawning again.

Mana's heart sank. _Maybe he's so used to being called that that he can remember it._ That's what Mana hoped, but the truth was the spell probably hadn't worked. "Ready for dinner?"

The boy's face lit up. He jumped off the bed and grabbed Mana's sleeve. It was amazing how he could go from half-asleep to energetic at the mere mention of dinner. "Hurry up! I'm hungry!"

"All right, all right, I'm hurrying."

* * *

Two chapters once! Woohoo!!!!

Again, tell me what you think and if you liked it, okay? Thank you!


	3. The Pierrot and the Historian

Dinner that night was beef stew. Allen at first poked at the strange food, confused with it contents, but once Mana had coaxed him into trying it, the boy was eating it in big spoonfuls. Mana thought it amazing the boy didn't burn his tongue on the hot food, but at the same time, he also wondered if any of the stew actually _touched_ Allen's tongue after the first bite.

"Slow down, or you'll choke," Mana scolded.

Allen swallowed his mouthful and did as Mana said. Now his spoonfuls weren't quite so large, but he was still eating it faster than Mana thought absolutely necessary. It wasn't like someone was going to take it away from him if he didn't finish it right away. _Though, that's probably how it was before,_ Mana thought before telling Allen to slow down again.

There was something else Mana thought interesting about the way Allen ate. The boy was pushing all the carrots and potatoes to the side and only eating the beef from the stew. Granted, most children probably did that, but the Fourteenth had _always_ loved carrots and potatoes (he was a little strange that way). It was even more obvious that Allen was avoiding the vegetables when he tried to steal the beef out of Mana's stew when he'd eaten all of it from his own.

"Eat your vegetables," Mana said, knocking Allen's spoon back with a flick of his own.

"But I don't wanna," Allen complained.

"You can have some of mine if you finish _all_ of yours."

"But I don't like carrots." Allen prodded at the orange things with his spoon like it was some foreign substance.

"You ate them at lunch," Mana pointed out.

"I don't like them now."

Mana frowned. "You said you liked them earlier."

"I don't like them now," Allen repeated.

Most wouldn't have understood Allen's sudden change in likes and dislikes, but it all made sense to Mana. His seal had, in fact, worked. The boy in front of him was the boy he'd been before the Fourteenth implanted his memories. They just happened to share a name, or maybe the boy had no name before and desperately clung to the one the Fourteenth had given him. Either way, this "Allen" was different from Mana's brother "Allen."

"Eat your carrots and potatoes, and I'll get you a treat for desert," Mana said.

Allen probably would have complained more, but Mana had left no real room for argument by going back to his food. The boy grumbled to himself before taking huge spoonfuls of what was left to get it over with.

"And eat it slowly so you don't choke," Mana added.

If looks could kill, Mana would have dropped dead where he sat. Despite the glare, Allen did as Mana asked. Mana had to smile. This was the boy he'd picked up, not the host for the Fourteenth's memories as he'd been before.

Allen finished his dinner, vegetables and all, at last and set down his spoon. "Why're you smilin' at me like that?"

"Am I smiling?" Mana asked in reply. He mopped up what was left of his stew with a slice of bread. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Allen was doing the same.

"You are," Allen said before stuffing the entire bread slice in his mouth.

"Allen, small bites."

The boy glared again, but it was too late for him to correct his latest mistake. He just chewed and swallowed, then chugged his glass of milk to keep the bread from getting stuck in his throat.

"Allen, don't chug either. It's not polite and looks stupid."

Allen crossed his arms and pouted. He was _definitely_ being the child he should've been rather than who he'd probably been for years.

"So Allen," Mana continued as if he hadn't noticed Allen's pouting, "why don't you tell me a little about yourself? I'd like to know a little more about my assistant."

Allen stopped pouting. "What d'you wanna know?"

"When your birthday is, for one thing."

"What's a birthday?"

Mana hadn't quite been expecting that, but it made sense when he thought about it. Allen had grown up on the streets. It was unlikely that he'd remember something like that. "The day you were born," Mana explained. When Allen seemed confused, Mana sighed. "You really don't have one?"

"Dunno when I was born," Allen admitted. "My mom 'n dad dumped me at an orphanage. They said it was 'cause I had this arm."

Mana thought for a moment. "Well, we can't have someone without a birthday... I know! How about we make it December twenty-fifth?"

Allen looked like he was trying to remember something, then, "Isn't that Jesus's birthday?"

Mana laughed. "No, it's Christmas, but I don't think anyone'd mind."

"But isn't Christmas Jesus's birthday?"

"Actually, historical evidence shows Jesus was probably born in spring and—" Mana stopped when he saw Allen wasn't following a word he said. "Anyway, I don't think God would mind sharing the holiday with you for your birthday. I found you then, after all. I think it's fair." Mana waved over the barkeep's wife.

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to have any sweets, would you?"

The woman tilted her head, then turned her head to the boy sitting across from Mana. "We have some gingerbread cookies," she said, knowing exactly whom the desert was for.

"Can we have some of those, then?" Mana asked with a smile.

The woman nodded and left, returning minutes later with dark brown cookies frosted to look like little men with gumdrop buttons and woman in iced aprons. She set the plate in front of Allen. "Enjoy them," she said warmly before wandering over to another table, where a tall red-haired boy and an old man sat.

Mana almost choked on the cookie he'd bit into. _Everyone I know is here,_ he thought, recognizing the short older man instantly. _But why's Bookman here, of all places?_

"Some'n wrong, Mana?" Allen asked innocently. He was already on his third cookie.

"Nothing," Mana replied, then frowned at the two cookies left. "I thought she gave us six."

Allen knew where this was going. "No, only five."

"Allen, are you even tasting them?"

The boy blushed. "'Course I am!"

Mana rolled his eyes. "Allen, you're going to choke one of these days, and I swear I'm not going to help you when you do." It wasn't that he minded Allen's heavy appetite; what he minded was that Allen didn't seem to taste whatever he shoveled in his mouth.

"Sorry, Mana," Allen murmured. This time, he slowed down to a relatively normal pace. He finished his third cookie, looked down at the two remaining ones, then pushed the plate closer to Mana.

"Full already?"

"No, but I thought you'd want some."

Mana smiled. Allen really was a nice kid when he tried. Mana picked up one of the gingerbread men and pushed the last one back to Allen. "Go for it. Too many sweets aren't good for me, and this is your first time having these, right?"

Allen nodded enthusiastically and happily crunched on the last cookie.

Mana glanced over at the grandfather clock in the corner while Allen finished his cookie. Seven o'clock. "Allen, when do you normally go to bed?"

"Whenever I get tired and there's nothin' else I need to do," Allen replied before finishing his milk. Mana noticed he drank it much more slowly this time. He probably didn't want to get yelled at again.

Mana thought for a moment. What had his bedtime been as a child? "Your bedtime's at eight-thirty from now on. Sound fair?"

"When's that?" Allen looked at the clock Mana was looking at.

So he couldn't read time. Mana would have to teach him that later. "It's when that big hand's on the six and the small hands between the eight and the nine."

Allen nodded, but Mana had to wonder if Allen really understood what he'd just said. "So how long until then?"

"An hour and a half."

Allen nodded, and again, Mana wondered if really understood. Still, the boy was listening patiently, which was better than he'd expected. "Allen, how old are you?"

"Dunno. Seven? Eight maybe?"

Mana sighed. _Might as well go with the younger guess,_ he thought. "What's your favorite food?"

"Used to be carrots." Mana had to laugh at the face Allen made. "Gingerbread now."

Mana didn't ask what Allen's hobbies were. The boy probably hadn't had any fun in his life.

"What about you?" Allen asked.

"Hmm?"

"How old're you? What's your favorite food?"

"I'm not telling you how old I am! All you need to know is that I'm older than you!" Mana said with a laugh.

"Then what's your favorite food?"

"I'll eat just about anything that's put in front of me."

"That's not an answer."

Mana smiled. "I guess it isn't, but it's the truth."

"Excuse me," the barkeep's wife tapped Allen on the shoulder. "The snow's let up a bit, and my daughter wanted to know if you'd like to play outside with her."

Mana noticed that Allen had hidden his hand in his pocket again. Allen looked to Mana for an answer. It was plain on his face he wanted to go, and who was Mana to ruin his fun?

"Sure. Go upstairs and put on the coat and mittens this nice lady gave you first, all right?"

Allen nodded excitedly and ran upstairs. Allen was still a child, after all.

The woman waited for him to run outside with her daughter before rounding on Mana. "What did you do to that poor boy?"

"Excuse me?"

"He's covered in bruises!" the woman hissed. "From what I can tell, he hadn't eaten a good meal for days until you both came here. How could you be so cruel to that child?"

"Erm... there seems to have been a misunderstanding..." Mana held up his hands to try and stop the woman's rampage. "I just adopted Allen yesterday. He was a street urchin, so he got a little banged up before I met him."

The woman frowned. "You expect me to believe that?"

"You can go ask Allen yourself," Mana said, keeping his voice low. Bookman would have a field day if he overheard this conversation. "He'll tell you the same thing."

The barkeep's wife frowned deepened. "I still don't believe you."

"I'm afraid I've never been very convincing," Mana replied.

"Ain't that the truth."

They both turned, and there was General Cross, arms crossed and smirking. He came closer and took Allen's seat. "Oi, bring us some wine, would you?"

The woman glared angrily at the two men. Mana felt it time to defuse the situation. "I apologize for his rude behavior. He's..." Mana let the sentence drop so the woman could infer for herself. "Anyway, I'm not lying. I'm a traveling entertainer and Allen wanted to join me as my assistant."

The woman pursed her lips, but at last nodded. "You better take care of that boy," she said before turning to get the wine Cross wanted.

"Make sure it's the expensive stuff!" the general called after her.

"You better be paying for this," Mana whispered.

"Of course. A nice woman a few towns over gave me quite a bit of cash, if you catch my drift."

"You're disgusting." Mana shook his head, then glanced over to see if Bookman had overheard the whole exchange. Both the old man and child had vanished. _I couldn't have been seeing things._

"Quite an acquaintance you have."

Mana almost jumped out his skin at the sound of the old voice. "So that was you, Bookman. Where's...?"

"The boy went upstairs to study," Bookman replied. He pulled up a chair from one of the other tables and sat down. "And what of the boy with you?"

"Er... Allen... went outside to play for a bit..." Of course Bookman had to talk to him. Of course he'd be asking questions. Of course the stupid historian would be interested.

"A shame," the Bookman mumbled. "I was hoping to talk to the Fourteenth's successor."

Why was it that everyone caught on so quickly? It had taken Mana an entire conversation to figure it out. These two knew just by looking. Well, Cross cheated a bit with Timcanpy, but how on earth did Bookman know?

"It was pretty obvious by the way you were talking to him," Bookman said as if reading Mana's mind. "Then there was your conversation with the general here earlier."

Mana wanted to bash his head on the table. How could he have not noticed Bookman then? _The guy must be a ninja or something!_ he thought irritably.

The barkeep's wife returned with a bottle of wine and three glasses, having seen Bookman join their little party. She set it all down and walked away, still angry with Cross.

Cross poured a glass for himself, but left the bottle for the other two. He wasn't about to pour them glasses himself. "So who's this?" he asked before sipping his wine.

Mana was about to say something, but Bookman silenced him with a single look. "My name's not important," the old man said, pouring himself and Mana some wine. "I'm just an acquaintance of Mana Walker here."

That was true. Mana had met Bookman years before when he was still with his brother. Bookman had been staying with the Earl, but then vanished in the night without explanation. The Fourteenth had said Bookman probably got all the history he wanted from them for the moment and moved on to someplace else. The Earl hadn't liked the historian's disappearing act, but none of the Akuma he sent to search could track down the ever-mysterious Bookman. The only reason the Earl had given up on the search was because Bookman hadn't been much help to him, so he figured he wouldn't be much help to anyone else either.

"So how have things been since... we last saw each other?" Mana asked, careful not to mention the Earl.

Bookman sipped his wine and didn't answer.

Mana decided to try again. "So who's the boy you were with?"

"A useless apprentice," he replied, setting his glass down. He glanced out the window, where Allen and the barkeep's daughter were building rather clumsy-looking snowmen.

They talked a while longer (or listened, in Bookman's case) until Allen and the girl came in covered in snow. Mana had to excuse himself at this point to let the sleepy-eyed Allen into the room.

"Did you have fun?" Mana asked as he unlocked the door.

"She was nice to me," Allen muttered. "No one's been nice to me 'cept you. Usually people're mean like Cosimo"

Mana helped Allen take off his gloves, shoes, and coat, since his fingers were still numbed from cold. "Not everyone's like Cosimo," he said gently. He led the boy to his bed and tucked him into bed. "Sleep tight, okay Allen? We leave in the morning."

Allen nodded and closed his eyes. "Mana?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for everything."

Mana smiled. "Good night, Allen."

* * *

Third chapter. Woot.

I wanted to say a few things before people bombard me with complaints or questions. :)

First thing: Last chapter, someone pointed out to me that Tim was made by Cross. Well, that's what Komui's said, but when you think about it, they'd only know that if Cross told them that he made it. If Mana had made it for the 14th, who'd then gave it to Cross, he'd probably have said the same thing so they wouldn't suspect him of something. That's my explanation, and I'm sticking to it.

As for Bookman knowing Mana... I think it was the twins who said it (I could be wrong), but I know one of the Noah said "Oh, so he's on your side now" referring to Bookman (or maybe Lavi, but it was definitely about the Bookmen). Anywho, I took that to mean Bookman had been with the baddies learning stuff for a while.

Oh, and Lavi wouldn't recognize Allen later in the story if he saw him there because Allen looks totally different here than he does when he meets Lavi. The only similarity is Allen's hand, which he kept hidden, so Lavi wouldn't have seen it.

Okay, I think those're the only things I have to explain here... Thanks again for reading!


	4. The Pierrot and the Nightmare

Mana woke up before dawn the next morning, not that that was hard. It _was_ winter after all. Quietly, so as not to wake Allen, Mana got dressed and then sneaked out of the room and down the stairs.

The smell of fresh bread greeted him in the dining room.

"Good morning!" the barkeep's daughter said, curtseying. "Um..." She glanced behind Mana, then looked back up in his smiling face. "Allen's not with you?"

"He's still sleeping," Mana said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I was wondering if you had a pair of scissors handy."

The girl nodded and went behind the bar. A few moments later, she returned with a pair of scissors about the right size for Mana's purpose. "What're you gonna do with 'em?" she asked innocently.

Mana patted her head. "Just need to cut something's all," he replied before heading up the stairs.

"Breakfast'll be in an hour," the girl called after him. Mana waved to show he'd heard.

Mana lit a lamp when he reached the room. It was starting to brighten outside the room, so Mana threw back the curtains for a bit of the extra light. He heard Allen groan and saw the boy curl up in his blanket cocoon to escape the morning.

"Allen, time to wake up." Mana shook Allen's shoulder gently.

"Just a little longer," the boy replied sleepily.

"Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Allen shook his head under the covers. "I kept havin' bad dreams."

Mana sat down next to Allen's pillow and petted what he could see of Allen's head. "What kind of bad dreams?"

"I dreamt everything was broken," Allen muttered weakly. "There weren't any people or anythin' around. I was all alone in that broken place." Mana could hear Allen sniffling a bit.

"It was just a dream," Mana said, his voice quiet and soothing.

Allen peeked out from under his blanket. "But it was so real... There was blood everywhere 'n I was really scared."

Mana was taken aback a moment, but went back to stroking Allen's head. "Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. Not if I'm here." He knew there was no way he could keep that promise, but he did know that Allen needed some kind of comfort, and that was all Mana could offer. "If you ever have a nightmare like that again, you're welcome to sleep in my bed, okay?"

Allen nodded, then let his protective blanket fall when he sat up. He scooted closer to Mana, then buried his face in Mana's chest. He was still crying. Mana rubbed the child's back as he continued to cry, whispering things like, "It's all right," or "It was just a dream." By the time Allen had stopped crying, the sun was rising slowly over the horizon.

"Better?" Mana asked when Allen rubbed away his tears. Once Allen nodded, he stood and slid a chair over. "Allen, could you sit here a minute?"

"Why?" Allen asked as he got up and did as Mana asked.

"I'm going to comb that rat's nest you call hair and cut it."

Allen ducked and threw his arms protectively over his head. "I don't want you to cut it!"

"Then at least let me get the knots out," Mana said, taking his comb from the nightstand where he'd left it and running it through Allen's hair. The boy pulled away from him as he did so and let out a yelp of pain when the comb pulled the knot. "The less you move, the less it'll hurt." Mana ran the comb through his hair again with the same result.

"Can't you cut the knots out?" Allen pleaded.

"Then it will be crooked," Mana said, amused. "Besides, I thought you didn't _want_ me to cut your hair."

"But it hurts when you pull it!"

"I don't mean to. You just keep moving."

The Battle of the Comb—which was what Mana so lovingly called it later—lasted about ten minutes. By the time Allen sat still, the worst of the knots and snarls had already been combed out. "You know, if I cut it, it won't hurt as much when I comb it," Mana said.

"Just cut it then," Allen grumbled, pouting. "I don't care anymore."

Mana chuckled and picked up the scissors he'd left on the nightstand next to where his come had been. "Now sit still, okay? I don't want to cut your ear off."

Allen squeaked in fear and flinched, but then sat perfectly still as Mana snipped away at his much-too-long hair. He didn't cut it too short—about shoulder length—but there was a good twelve centimeters of hair on the floor. Nodding at his handiwork, Mana swept up the long strands of hair into his hand to throw away.

Allen, on the other hand, hopped out of the chair as soon as Mana finished and went to the mirror. Mana watched from the corner of his eye as he always did. The boy looked surprised. He reached out, hesitated, then touched the glass. He turned his head this way and that, trying to see as much of himself as possible. It was like he couldn't recognize the boy staring back at him.

"Mana... Is that really me?"

"Of course it is, silly," Mana replied, brushing what remained of the hair on his hands into the trashcan. "Who else would it be?"

"But... that doesn't _look_ like me."

Mana patted Allen on the head. "Of course that looks like you," he said. "That's what you look like under seven layers of dirt." He laughed when Allen stuck his tongue out at him. "All right, get changed and we'll head down to breakfast." Mana gestured to the folded clothes still sitting on the small table.

Once Allen changed, they headed downstairs to eat with their belongings all packed up. Mana glanced around quickly, but didn't spot Bookman or Cross anywhere. Allen didn't notice since he was too busy watching the pancakes the barkeep's wife was setting down on the table.

"Don't eat too fast," Mana reminded Allen when the boy was about to stuff an entire pancake into his mouth. "No one's going to take it away from you."

Allen made a face, but did as Mana said. He seemed to be getting used to Mana's rules, even if he didn't like them too much. He finished about half of his pancake before he looked up. "Hey Mana, what're you looking at?"

Mana set down his cup of coffee. "It's a newspaper."

"What's a newspaper?"

"It's a paper with news written on it."

Allen frowned, confused. He reached over the table and took it from Mana. He scanned it for a few minutes, then pouted, unable to decipher the many characters in neat rows all over it. "What's it say?" he asked finally.

Mana took the paper back. "Not too much. Mostly things you wouldn't be interested in."

"What's it say?" Allen repeated.

Mana skimmed for something that would prove remotely interesting to Allen. He wouldn't care about the stock market, or the current affairs in America, or the current state of the government. "The circus we were part of before left town," Mana said, reading one of the minor headlines.

"I coulda told ya that," Allen replied, going back to his pancakes. "They always move on after a while."

"Allen, don't talk with your mouth full."

Allen swallowed and drank his milk without taking ridiculously huge gulps. He was learning, at least. "Where're we goin' next?" Allen asked.

"Next town over," Mana replied. "It's about half a day's walk from here. Maybe we can catch a cart heading our way and hitch a ride."

Allen finished his pancakes and looked hungrily at the single pancake remaining on Mana's plate. Mana pushed it to him and Allen ate it in three bites. _Well, that's better than yesterday,_ Mana thought as he stood to go. He picked up his suitcase and pulled on his coat. He then helped Allen do the same.

"Leaving already?" the barkeep asked when Mana paid for the room.

"Yes. Thank you for everything," Mana said politely.

"Don't mention it," the barkeep said, shrugging off Mana's thanks as if he got it all the time. "Have a nice day, sir."

Mana nodded, and with that, they left.

* * *

Wootness. Update. :D Rather short, I know, but this was more of a transition chapter to have them leave the in and go on their merry way again. Thank you for reading! Oh, and if there are any typos, please tell me. I'm only human. I always miss something.

Oh, and so you know, the fact they're eating pancakes is aimed at a friend of mine who probably won't bother to read this. XD (You know who you are if you're reading this).


	5. The Pierrot and the Circus

It had been almost a week since Mana had sealed the Fourteenth's memories, and the outlook was good. Even as they passed places Mana's brother had been or saw things that would have sparked some sort of nostalgia, Allen would ask what the strange place or thing was or completely ignore it as it didn't interest him. The boy would occasionally stop and stare at the other traveling performers, who were usually musicians, but that had more to do with the fact they were performers rather than the fact they were musicians. Any kid would stop to watch as they played and got coins for their effort.

Whenever Mana dressed up in his clown costume, he would trust Allen to watch the dish people threw money into and to help attract onlookers. Allen was quite good at his job. He was so good (or maybe just so cute), that people threw quite a bit of money for them. Not that they spent it on much besides food. The boy's appetite was increasing, though Mana knew it was because of the Innocence in his hand and not because the boy was being greedy.

When the two weren't traveling or putting on shows, Mana had taken it upon himself to teach Allen how to read, write, and tell time. The boy was eager to learn, and Mana was more than happy to teach. Within a week, Allen was able to print the whole alphabet, lowercase and uppercase, and recognize quite a few words. Needless to say, he was picking up the whole reading thing faster than Mana had expected. Telling time, on the other hand, was going at a much slower pace. The boy didn't have trouble with numbers, but he was having problems telling what the hands on the clock were trying to point to. The real trouble was that Allen didn't see the point of "time" in general since he'd never really had to worry about it before. The concept was as foreign to Allen as Chinese was to Mana. It just wasn't quite working...

Then there was the problem of Allen's plague of nightmares. Mana wasn't sure if it was the spell or if Allen just had a lot of nightmares, but Allen would constantly crawl into his bed in the middle of the night, shaking ever so slightly from fear, and fall asleep in Mana's arms. In the safety of morning light, Allen would apologize for waking Mana up, and Mana would always ask what had frightened Allen so badly. None of the dreams were quite as bad as the "broken place" Allen had seen days before, but Mana could understand why Allen would be so frightened. The worst since the broken place had been one where Allen was lost in nothing but darkness and couldn't escape it and the cold numbness it brought with it.

It seemed, though, that as Allen saw new places and learned new things from Mana, the nightmares lessened and were replaced by nicer, happier dreams. Mana had to wonder if it was just the sudden lack of the memories that caused Allen's streak of nightmares, but it didn't matter as much now that Allen was happy and bright-eyed in the mornings from a good night's sleep.

On New Years—Mana had completely forgotten about it as always—they were walking into a city far south and across the sea from where Mana had found Allen. The boy was riding on his back, looking excitedly at the lack of snow on the ground. "Is spring coming?" he asked.

"No, no, we're not even close to that," Mana said with a laugh. "We're going south, so there's less snow because it doesn't get quite as cold around here."

Allen continued to stare around the city like a kid in a candy shop. Mana knew he was trying to make sense of the signs around him without any luck. "Mana, everything's all garbled up!"

"It's not garbled up," Mana said smiling. "It's just in French. We're in France now, and the language here is different than England."

"Then how're we s'posed to make any money?"

"Parlez-vous français?"

"Huh?"

"It means _Do you speak French_," Mana translated. "Don't worry, I may be a little rusty, but I know quite a bit of French."

"Oh, okay." Allen rode silently on Mana's back, probably pondering something or another, then asked, "Are you French?"

"Ha ha, British born and raised," Mana replied. "I just picked up French later."

"Can you teach me?" Allen asked.

"Once you learn how to read a little better. One thing at a time, okay?"

"Kay!" Allen replied happily. He hugged Mana from behind to show his appreciation as he always did when Mana promised him anything. The boy was really starting to warm up to Mana. He certainly talked to Mana a lot more often and didn't complain as much when Mana introduced a new rule.

They walked a little farther while Mana searched for a good place to perform. After about fifteen minutes of exploring the city, Allen shook Mana's shoulder.

"Yes?"

"What's that poster say?" Allen asked, pointing at a poster in both French and English with large, curly letters. It was too difficult for him to understand the letters since they weren't in the straight print Mana had taught him to read.

"It says 'Let your imagination run free with Freedom Lights, the greatest circus on Earth,'" Mana read. He smiled. "Would you like to go?"

"But don't we have to work?" Allen asked.

"We'll join up with this circus for a week or so, then continue on our way. It's too hard to be a single traveling performer up against a big circus like this anyway." Mana read the sign to know where to find said circus, and started walking in that direction.

"But doesn't seeing the circus cost money?"

"Don't worry. I can get us in for free. I know some of the people there."

Allen's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really, really."

"But I don't really like circuses," Allen muttered.

"Yes, it does lose something when you work behind the scenes of one, doesn't it?" Mana turned left, and they were in the fairgrounds. "Don't worry, this place is a lot different than the circus you were in."

They came closer to the tent and heard cheering and applause. _So there's a show going on_, Mana thought. _Then that means..._ "Lionel!"

The man standing off to the side breathing on his hands to warm them looked up. He was tall and handsome with shaggy dark hair and tanned skin, despite the sunless sky. "Well, well, well! If it isn't Mana Walker!" He came over and stared at Allen. "Uh oh, don't look now, but it seems you have a growth on your back."

Mana chuckled. "At least my growth isn't scared of clowns," he teased back before Allen could respond to what he'd certainly taken as an insult. "Where's Raine?"

"Where do you think?" Lionel gestured to the tent behind him. "She's making sure things don't explode in there like always."

"I see." Mana gazed at the tent a moment, then looked back at Lionel. "Mind if we sneak in and join the audience?"

Lionel looked amused. "If I said no, Raine would murder me. Go for it." He pulled back the tent flap ever so slightly so Mana could slip inside with Allen on his back.

They found seats in the bleachers near the back. Allen frowned at the people in the center ring at the moment. A clown was trying to lift a barbell off the ground and failing, and then the strongman picked up the barbell the clown couldn't lift.

"It's fake," Allen muttered. "He's not that strong."

"Oh really?" Mana said smugly as the strongman put two clowns on stools attached to a bar and hefted them up into the air.

Allen's eyes almost fell out of his skull. "How'd he—"

"Exactly," Mana said.

More clowns came on and did the usual acrobatic tricks and threw pies at each other and all the other things to get the audience laughing. The only one who didn't so much as smile was Allen, who looked bored. It was only when one of the braver clowns—Mana recognized her as Lisa—brought out knives to juggle that Allen watched with a mixture of horror, surprise, and awe.

After the clowns came the tightrope walker. A woman in a leotard with long flowing tails of transparent fabric in the back stepped out on the high wire. Allen watched especially wide-eyed as she danced and spun on the thin wire without falling off. Mana had to smile and Allen's utter amazement. The boy wasn't used to such a show. He was used to the half-baked show the old circus had put on.

The circus continued. The tightrope walker was followed by a magician, who was then followed by an animal tamer with lions, tigers, and bears. After the animals and their tamer all took a bow, swings were lowered from the top of the tent. The trapeze artists came out and flew through the air with their swings, doing tricks Mana knew Allen had never seen before.

The show ended with these trapeze tricks. All but one dropped into the net below, only to be joined by the rest of the circus. The woman who stayed standing on her swing took a bow and was followed by the rest of the circus. The bows finished, she called to the audience, "Thank you for coming to see Freedom Lights! We hope to see you all again!" And with that, she back flipped off her swing, bounced in the net, and was caught by the other trapeze artists for one last spectacular stunt.

The audience applauded wildly, including Allen, Mana was happy to see. They filed out of the tent with everyone else, but instead of heading back to the main road leading out of the fairgrounds, Mana turned out of the crowd and started walking around the tent.

"Off limits, buddy."

Mana smiled at the man blocking his way. "I'm here to see Raine, if that's all right."

"What, you lookin' fer a job, buddy?"

Mana didn't recognize the man barring their way. "Possibly," he replied vaguely. "Would you mind letting us pass?"

"What you do?"

"I'm a clown."

"We 'ave plenty o' clowns."

"Varn! Are you bothering these people?"

Mana didn't have to look at Allen to see he'd recognized the trapeze artist who stepped out of the big top.

"He wants ta be a clown an' I told 'im we 'ad plenty."

"Varn, that's not your decision to make. _I'm_ in charge. You're a part-timer who joined us a couple weeks ago. Once you've been here a year, _then_ I'll start considering your opinion."

The man frowned and stormed away.

The woman turned to Mana and Allen. "Don't worry about him. He'll get over it eventually..." she trailed off as she stared at Mana.

"Hello, Raine," Mana said, bracing himself for what he knew was about to come.

The woman tackled him and kissed him. Mana didn't have to look to know Allen was surprised by the sudden gesture. He'd have to explain sometime—maybe when Allen was older—about his relationship with Raine. Maybe.

When Raine at last broke the kiss, Mana turned to look at Allen. The boy looked surprised, hurt, and angry all at once. _Oh boy..._ Mana thought. _This doesn't bode well._

"Mana? Who's this?" Raine asked, her friendly smile warming her green eyes.

"Allen," the boy spat out.

_Oh dear..._ Mana glanced at Raine to see if she'd been offended, but it was quite the opposite. She seemed amused by Allen's reaction to her.

"Where's your mother, little one?" she asked.

"I don't got one."

"Oh?" She turned to Mana. "Your son doesn't have a mother?"

Before Mana could tell her she had the wrong idea, Allen did it for him. "He's not my father!" Allen shouted. The boy spun around and ran blindly into the open tent.

"Was it something I said?" Raine asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"I have no idea," Mana replied, stunned. Then he sighed. "I'll go find him."

"I'll help," Raine volunteered.

Mana rolled his eyes. "I _know_ you saw how he glared at you!"

Raine smiled wickedly. "If he yells at me, I'll be able to find him faster," she pointed out.

"And then he won't speak to me all evening," Mana said with another sigh. "You take care of the circus. I'll take care of Allen."

"Deal." Raine kissed Mana on the cheek before ambling off to go do whatever she did as the head of the circus.

Mana checked all the places Allen could possibly hide and asked all the stragglers cleaning up the props from their acts. Lionel the animal tamer hadn't seen him, nor had the clown siblings that were siblings in name only, Jody and Judy. The Siamese twins Rebecca and Caroline put their heads together, then said they'd seen him running over to where Karos the magician stored his things.

Mana thanked them quickly and went to where they'd said. The mousy, redheaded magician was there, peeking behind a trunk standing on its side. "Oh! Mana! Um... a kid ran back here... Do you know where Raine is?"

"I'll take care of it, Karos," Mana said, patting him on the shoulder. As always, the contact left his hand cold. "Go tell Raine I found him, all right?"

Karos nodded, assuming the _him_ Mana said was the boy behind the trunk, and headed out to look for Raine.

"Allen, come on out of there," Mana said gently.

"No."

"All right." Mana sat down against the side of the trunk. Allen was boxed in and would have to come out that side. "I'll just wait for you to come out of there. You'll get hungry sooner or later."

Mana sat on the cold ground for a good ten minutes before Allen at last crawled out of his hiding place and into his lap. The boy didn't say anything; he just sat in Mana's lap with his arms around his knees and his head resting on them.

"Should I ask what all that was about?" Mana asked. When Allen shook his head, Mana sighed. "Do you not like Raine?" This time, Allen nodded. "Why don't you like her?" Allen shrugged. "Is it because she kissed me?" Allen nodded. "You know, speaking would help this conversation."

"Do you still want me?" Allen asked meekly.

"What kind of question is that?" Mana asked, ruffling Allen's hair. "Of course I still want you around."

Allen was quiet for a minute or two, then, "Who do you like more, me or her?"

Mana raised an eyebrow. "Allen, don't make me pick. That's like me asking you if you like dogs or cats better." Mana knew Allen had a thing for animals, probably because they didn't care that his arm was strange. "I like you both, just in different ways." He wasn't about to tell Allen they were married. Only a few people knew that, and he wasn't about to add Allen to that list. That would probably make things worse.

Allen pouted, and Mana realized the real reason for the boy's sulking. "Is all this because Raine thought you were my son?"

"They're all the same," Allen muttered, as if he hadn't heard Mana's question. "My parents threw me away 'cause of my arm. Whenever anybody looked at me at the orphanage, the mothers would all think I was cute and want to take me home with them, but then the fathers would see my arm and not want me." He squeezed his knees. "I don't want you to be my father. Fathers don't like me at all."

It was strange logic, but apparently Allen was convinced of it. Mana petted Allen's hair comfortingly. "If you don't want me to be your father, that's fine," he said. "You can just stay as my assistant for as long as you want. If you want to leave, I'll let you, and if you decide you want to be something else, I'll let you too. I won't force you to be anything you don't want to be."

Allen turned his head. "Promise?"

"Promise." Mana gave Allen a firm hug. "Come on, let's go get some dinner. You're probably starving by now."

Allen nodded and climbed out of Mana's lap. "I'm sorry," he muttered when Mana stood up and took his hand.

"I'm not the one you have to apologize to, Allen."

Allen looked up at him, confused. "You have to tell Raine your sorry," Mana explained.

"Why?"

"Because you were awfully rude to her," Mana replied as he led him to where dinner was. He could already smell the roasted hen in the air. _I forgot it was New Years..._

"And it seems Mana found his growth," Lionel teased when they reached the long tables set up under another tent for dinner. Everyone looked up and many of them waved when they recognized Mana. "Raine was getting worried."

"Was not," Raine said, punching the animal tamer in the arm. She came closer and knelt down to look Allen in the eye. "I'm not sure what I said or did to get your feathers all ruffled, but I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Allen muttered without prompting from Mana. "I shouldn't of got mad."

Raine pulled him into a hug. "He's just so cute!" she said. She released Allen when the boy tried to pull out of her embrace. "Well then," she stood up, "now that everyone's here, who's ready to eat?"

The other performers all raised their glasses and cheered in response. Mana sat down between Raine and Allen so as not to start yet another fight between them. He didn't want to have to stop Allen's sulking again. It was always tedious when that happened, even if the little fit before had been easy to handle. Usually, they were a lot worse.

"To good health!" Raine said, raising her glass of wine. "To good performing! To good friends and family!"

Everyone raised their glasses to the toast as well and took sips. Well, everyone except Allen, who didn't seem to understand. Mana explained quickly after the toast was over, since he knew the question was coming. He didn't have Allen's undivided attention for long, though. The food was being passed around, and Allen only had eyes for the roasted hen.

When the platters of food reached them, Mana put all the things he knew Allen would avoid otherwise on his plate. Roasted carrots and potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, baked apples... everything that wasn't once alive and clucking. Allen frowned at the vegetables, but then smiled when Mana put a few slices of the hen on his plate.

"You sure he'll eat that much?" Raine commented, ogling Allen's plate.

"Trust me, he'll want seconds," Mana replied with a smile. He cut Allen's slices of hen into smaller, bite-sized pieces since the boy couldn't use his one hand very well to use a knife.

Allen thanked Mana and happily took a big forkful of the meat. He stopped, fork still in his mouth, and frowned.

"Something wrong?" Mana asked, eyeing Allen's expression. He didn't usually frown and stop eating. Usually, he was on cloud nine and had to be told to slow down. "Doesn't it taste good?"

"It's good," Allen said, then continued eating, but not with quite as much vigor as always. When Allen didn't go for seconds or want the plum pudding brought out for desert, Mana started getting worried.

"Are you feeling all right?" Mana asked, touching Allen's forehead.

"I'm fine!" Allen said, pushing away Mana's hand. "I just don't wanna eat anymore."

Mana hoped that was all it was. "If you're sure..." He took some of the plum pudding on his plate. "You can try some of mine, if you like."

Allen reached over with his spoon and took a small bit to taste. He seemed to like it, but he took no more and left Mana to finish the small amount without his "help."

Once the feast was over, Raine led Mana and Allen outside to where all the trailer cars for the circus were. She led them to a fire engine red one. "I'm afraid this is the only one that's open," she admitted. "There's not a lot of room in it, since it's really only for one person, but..."

"I can stay on my own," Allen volunteered.

Mana raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Course I'm sure!" Allen opened the door and peeked inside. "I'm not a little kid."

_You're just a kid with abnormally bad nightmares,_ Mana thought, but didn't give voice to the statement.

"I can take care of myself!" Allen said when Mana looked at him doubtfully. "You go stay with Raine or some'n."

Mana felt the color rise to his cheeks. Sometimes kids were just too perceptive. "If you're sure..." Mana turned to Raine for help, but didn't receive any.

"My trailers over there," Raine said, pointing to the sky blue one a few meters away. "If you need anything, just knock, since I always lock it." She smiled and ruffled Allen's hair, much to the boy's annoyance. "There anything you need, little one?"

"I'm not little," Allen muttered.

"Until you're taller than me, you're little."

"But you're a giant!"

"Exactly!" Raine laughed at her set up. She ruffled Allen's hair again until the boy swatted her hand away. "It's getting pretty late," she said, checking her pocket watch. "Time for little boys to go to bed," she teased.

"Shut up," Allen grumbled before yawning loudly. He went inside the little trailer.

"Sweet kid," Raine commented to Mana as they walked back to the big top. "He's a lot like you and your brother."

"Thanks," Mana said, thankful that the darkness hid his frown.

* * *

It was about midnight when Mana woke up with a bad feeling. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what had given him the feeling. He'd always had a pretty accurate sixth sense, and his bad feelings had saved him more often than not.

"Mmmm..." Raine curled up and covered her face with the blanket when Mana lit the oil lamp. "What's wrong, Mana? Can't sleep?"

Mana climbed out of bed and pulled his coat over his pajamas. "I'm going to check on Allen."

Raine sat up sleepily and felt around for her robe on the chair next to her bed without opening her eyes. "I'll come too."

"You can go back to sleep," Mana said. "I just want to make sure he's not having nightmares again."

"You'd mentioned that earlier," Raine replied, putting her robe on over her nightgown, "but I also know you tend to have a sixth sense for trouble. I'll come in case we bump into any nasty Akuma or something."

Mana rolled his eyes. It wasn't like she could do anything even if they ran into an Akuma. She'd found out about them because Karos, one of the dozen or so Akuma that Mana's brother had reprogrammed, had blabbed everything to her after she pestered him enough times about what Mana was running from. Mana didn't hold anything against the poor modified Akuma, though. He had been told by the Fourteenth to obey Raine's every whim, after all.

"Well? You coming?" Raine was already wide-awake and waiting at the door to her trailer.

"Yes, yes, hold on." Mana grabbed the oil lamp and led the way out into the cold, dark night.

Mana could hear choked sobs through the door when they reached the red trailer. _So he did have a nightmare,_ he thought before knocking. "Allen?" he called softly. "It's me. I'm coming in, okay?" Raine handed him the key, and Mana unlocked the door.

Inside was dark and a little musty. Moonlight fell through the crack in the curtains, giving the room an almost surreal feeling. Mana could see why Allen would have nightmares, alone in such a place. Mana took a few steps closer to the bed and set the lamp down on the nightstand.

That's when he realized the choked sobs weren't sobs at all. "Allen!" he cried, helping Allen sit up. The boy couldn't breathe and was gasping for air, his face contorted in pain. "Allen, what's wrong?"

"I'll get a doctor," Raine said, rushing out of the trailer.

Allen continued gasping like a fish out of water. Mana rubbed his back, trying to calm the boy. Allen stared at Mana a moment, as if asking him what was wrong with him. When Mana didn't respond to his silent question, Allen managed to choke out, "Ma... na... what's..."

"Don't talk," Mana said quietly. He could tell every word was painful for Allen. _Where's Raine with that doctor?_

It was another few minutes before Raine returned. The doctor behind her set to work immediately, telling Allen to open his mouth, but that was all he did. One look at Allen's throat, and he was digging through his bag. He retrieved a bottle of some thick liquid and a spoon. "Drink this," he said, pouring some of the medicine and then holding out the spoon.

Allen shook his head and looked at Mana, fear written all over his face.

"It's okay," Mana whispered. "It'll make you feel better."

Allen nodded and swallowed the spoonful. He made a disgusted face, and then glared at Mana accusingly.

"It takes a little bit to work," Mana said, knowing exactly what Allen was thinking. He glanced at the doctor. "So... what's—?"

"There's been a throat infection going around," the older man said. "Seems to only bother children. Give him a spoonful of this before meals and he'll be fine. Warm milk and honey would do him good, too." The doctor frowned at his glasses, then added, "And don't let him breathe in too much cold air. Have him wear a scarf over his mouth anytime he goes outside."

Mana made a mental note of the doctor's instructions and thanked him quickly.

"No need to thank me. Just doing my job." The doctor stood and followed Raine out the door, probably to discuss payment.

Once they were gone, Mana turned back to Allen. "If you aren't feeling well, you should tell me," he said.

"Sorry..." Allen panted. The gasping was ebbing away little by little, but his breaths were still a little shallow. "I... felt fine... before..."

"Except at dinner when you ate like a normal person," Mana teased.

"I just... wasn't... hungry..."

"Get some sleep." Mana tucked Allen in. He then pulled up the single chair in the small room and sat down. "Good night, Allen." But the boy was already fast asleep.

* * *

Thank you for reading! As always, if you see a typo, tell me. I'm human and thus make mistakes. XD

In case you haven't noticed, Raine and Karos were in "For the Moment," my other story about Mana and Allen. They're a little different in here (i.e. Raine's trapeze here instead of tightrope). Oh, and the circus name "Freedom Lights" was borrowed from Kaleido Star.

The other thing I want to address is the fact I made Karos a converted Akuma. ...Cross had to learn the trick somewhere. XD The Fourteenth was just better at it. ...Please don't flame me for that. I can already see death threats for that one. :-)


	6. The Pierrot and the Injury

Something was poking Mana, or, he soon realized, _someone_. Mana opened an eye and smiled at the ever impatient Allen. "Good morning, Allen. How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," Allen croaked.

Mana chuckled. "I meant your throat."

"Don't care 'bout my throat. I'm hungry."

Mana stood stiffly from his chair and stretched. "Well, I'm sure—" There was a knock at the door. "It's open."

Karos poked his head in, but didn't enter. "Raine sent me to wake you two up... Breakfast's ready, so..." He smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you," Mana called as Karos shut the door.

"Who was that?" Allen asked hoarsely.

"Karos," Mana replied, going over to Allen's things and digging out his coat and the scarf he refused to wear. "Let's get you dressed so we can eat."

Once Mana had Allen in his warmest clothes and the scarf around his neck and over his mouth, they went out into the frosty morning and to breakfast. The tent they'd eaten in the night before was almost empty. Most of the troupe had eaten already and the few who remained were the hungover stragglers nursing coffee to avoid work until their headaches dissipated.

"Good morning," Raine said, chipper as always. "How are you feeling, little one?"

Allen pulled the scarf off—he hated it with a passion—and croaked, "Hungry."

Raine laughed. "We'll just have to fix that, won't we?" She gestured to two open seats. "Be right back."

Allen sat down next to Mana and waited impatiently for Raine to return. When at last she did, he groaned and made to leave. He'd spotted his medicine among the bowls and mugs.

"You have to take it," Mana said, keeping Allen from running at the sight of the bottle.

"But it tastes bad!" Allen tried to pull away, but Mana had too firm a grip on his sleeve. "I don't wanna and you can't make me!"

Raine smiled, amusement written all over her face. She set the two bowls of oatmeal down in front of Allen and Mana, along with cream, sugar, a mug of coffee, and a mug of warm milk and honey. She poured some of the medicine into a spoon and held it out for Allen.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Raine said brightly.

Mana raised an eyebrow at her. _What's she up to?_ "What's the easy way?"

"Easy way's if Allen shuts up and takes it," Raine replied smugly.

"What's the hard way?" Allen asked.

"I mix it into your milk and watch you suffer through the whole mug." Raine grinned evilly. "So what'll it be?"

Allen squeezed his lips shut. Mana glanced over at his assistant, wondering whether or not he should tell him that Raine's threats were always serious. He decided he didn't have to when Raine went to pour the spoonful in Allen's milk.

"All right, I'll take it!" Allen grabbed the spoon and swallowed the medicine. He then picked up his mug and drank deeply to get rid of the horrible taste. A few gulps later, he set the mug down half-empty and picked up his spoon. Without so much as asking what the oatmeal was, he ate a big spoonful and made a face.

Mana laughed. "Try adding some cream and sugar," he suggested before putting some in his own breakfast.

Allen watched doubtfully as Mana took a bit, and when he didn't drop dead or make a face, did as Mana suggested. Once he realized it tasted _good_ that way, he cleaned his bowl and asked for seconds. And thirds... Before he could ask for a fourth bowl, Mana told him he'd eaten enough and to wait for lunch. The boy seemed a little disappointed, and Mana, feeling bad that he'd told him to stop, slid what remained of his over to Allen.

Allen's eyes lit up, but Raine dashed his hopes by pushing the bowl back to Mana as she walked by. He looked up at Raine with eyes that could make a puppy jealous, but having been around children all her life, she was immune to the childish cuteness.

"Allen, let Mana eat his own breakfast," Raine scolded. "Mana, stop giving your food to Allen. If you don't eat, you'll starve yourself to death."

"She's kidding," Mana said quickly when Allen stared at the table, his expression somewhere between guilt and what Mana took for fear. "I'm not going to starve to death."

Raine pursed her lips. "I say you're wasting away where you sit." She took Allen's empty bowl and added, "Mana, you have to eat. It isn't healthy for you not to."

Mana could hear the worry in her voice and sighed. "All right, you win." He finished the remaining spoonfuls before standing up. He smiled comfortingly, hoping that would keep Raine from worrying too much about him as she always did, then turned to Allen. "Want to see the lions?" he asked.

Allen perked up instantly. "Can I really?"

Mana nodded and helped Allen put the scarf back on. "Of course. Lionel won't mind."

"Do I gotta wear this?" Allen complained. "It's not that far."

"It's far enough for you to get sick again," Raine pointed out before leaving with a few more dirty dishes.

Allen stuck his tongue out at her before letting Mana fuss over him. Mana knew he was only going along with it to see the lions, and he didn't disappoint the child.

"They're huge!" Allen cried in his cracked voice. He grinned broadly at the sight of the three sleeping lions. Well, two sleeping lions. The third, a female with white fur, lifted her head and yawned, revealing sharp, glistening teeth. Allen's eyes widened.

"Wanna pet 'em, growth?" Lionel asked, unlocking the beasts' cage.

Allen peered up at the animal tamer, as if trying to see through the man's obvious lie. "The other circus wouldn't let me anywhere near 'em," he said coldly. "They said the lions'd eat me."

Lionel chuckled. "True. Most lions would probably snap up a kid your size in a few bites, but don't worry about these guys. They're oversized house cats who only attack magicians."

Allen glanced at Mana questioningly. Of course the crack at Karos would go over Allen's head. "The lions don't like Karos," Mana explained quickly.

"Not just the lions," Lionel butted in. "The horses, elephants, tigers... none of the animals like him. Well, except for his rabbit, anyway," he added as an afterthought.

"How come no animals like Karos?" Allen asked.

Mana patted the boy on the head. "Who knows?" he said, but he knew the reason. Karos was an Akuma, and even though he was as tame and safe as the lions, the animals wouldn't believe it. Animals weren't fooled as easily by the human masks the Akuma wore. "Anyway, I have to go practice for the performance today. Can I trust you to behave yourself while I'm gone?"

Allen nodded, and when Lionel opened the cage door, went into the giant enclosure. The albino female that had been watching him the whole time stood and meandered over to him. It sat right in front of him, sniffed him cautiously, before reaching down and biting Allen's hand.

Mana panicked, as did Lionel next to him. Before they could run in to save Allen from apparent danger, however, the lion simply tugged off Allen's glove with her teeth and licked his deformed hand.

Mana breathed a sigh of relief. Lionel, on the other hand, stared at the boy's hand. "That ain't a fungus, is it?"

"Of course not."

"A disease, then? We don't want everyone gettin' the plague 'cause you forgot to mention your growth's little—"

"Allen's was born with his arm that way," Mana interrupted, his voice low. The boy hadn't realized they could see his hand yet, and Mana wanted to keep it that way. "There's nothing wrong with him otherwise."

Lionel raised an eyebrow at Mana. "If Kimba**'**s tongue turns scaly, I'm blaming you," he said under his breath.

"You can add it to my bill," he replied, patting the animal tamer on the shoulder. He then called to Allen, "I'll come get you at lunch time. If you get bored, ask Lionel here to take you to me."

"Kay!" Allen called back, waving with his good hand before playing with the lions. The others had woken up at the sound of Allen's laughter and decided they wanted the boy's attention as well.

* * *

A few hours later, Mana went back to the animals' area. Allen hadn't come to where the clowns were practicing, so he assumed he was still playing with the lions or one of the other tame animals Lionel worked with.

What he found surprised him. Allen was wrapped in a blanket and sleeping against the white lion's side. The lioness cracked open a silver eye and watched Mana approach the edge of the cage. When he took a step inside, she lifted her head and growled loud enough for Mana to hear. Allen yawned and snuggled closer to the lioness.

"She's rather attached. I think she thinks Allen's the cub she lost two months ago," Lionel said from behind Mana. "The kid got tired and nodded off while petting her. Now she won't anyone near 'em."

Mana slapped his forehead. He knew animals liked Allen and that Allen loved animals, but this was getting a little ridiculous. "Then how do we wake him up?"

"Well, we don't go over there. She'd probably try to eat us if we did. You're the idea guy. You come up with something."

Again, Mana slapped his forehead. This was one of the many times Mana wondered what any of the circus people would do without Raine and him and their decisiveness and brains. "Allen," he called, "it's time for lunch."

The child's eyes popped open. He patted the lioness on the head and ran over to Mana. "Come on!" he said, grabbing Mana's arm with his good hand. "Come on!"

Mana wrapped Allen up in his coat and scarf again, much to the boy's annoyance. "Can we go now?" the boy asked eagerly. "I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry," Mana pointed out with a small laugh. He took the child by the hand. When the boy didn't move to follow, Mana turned to see what was wrong.

Allen was looking at the lioness, which was watching him with a hint of loneliness in her eyes. He grinned at the white lion and said, "I'll see ya later, okay? You won't even notice I'm gone!" That said, he pulled at Mana's hand to get him moving. "Come on! It's time to eat!"

_You're the one holding things up,_ Mana thought, but didn't say anything. Allen was a strange little child, but who was he to talk? He'd been the same way before his mother... but Mana banished the memory. There was no use thinking about the past, after all.

* * *

After lunch, Mana set right back to work, this time with Allen as an audience. He needed to get warmed up for the performance that was only a few hours away, and as always, he was the only clown not to know the show perfectly. It was times like these that Mana had to remind himself that he loved Raine even though she was a brutal slave driver.

"Mana! Jump on the ball _then_ start juggling! I don't know how you manage it the other way around!" Raine slapped her forehead. This was normal before a performance for them, and they both knew it would get pulled together thirty seconds before the show anyway.

Mana caught the juggling pins and placed them on the ground. The other clowns involved in the juggling act groaned. Unlike Mana, they were all new to the circus and not used to the grueling practice that came with a new addition. Only Lisa caught her rubber knives—she never used the real ones in practice—smiled weakly at him to show she understood the trouble he was having.

"Do we have to do it again?"

"Why do we have to keep doing it? We know our routine!"

"Is this guy just dumb or something?"

"Nah, he's just too old for this."

Mana didn't let the other clowns get to him. He just adjusted the sleeves on his costume—they were running out of time and needed to get the dress rehearsal with him in—and moved the ball he was supposed to balance on slightly to his left.

"Stop complaining, you four!" Raine snapped. "You all have to practice, too! You were hardly perfect yesterday!"

"Clowns don't have to be perfect."

"We're supposed to be funny!"

Raine looked ready to rip her hair out. "You all wanted to be the jugglers!" she snapped. "You all say you didn't want to throw pies at each other! You all said you wanted to do tumbling! Have you all changed your minds and want to learn a whole new routine in two hours?"

The grumbling ceased and the practice continued. This time, Mana did get the order of events right and was easily balancing on one foot on top the ball like he was supposed to. This time, he actually had a better handle on things than the others around him, catching the balls they tossed to him and throwing them back. That's how he could see the disaster before anyone even realized it was happening.

The youngest member of the group took a step back to catch the ball and tripped. She landed right on top of Allen, who wasn't quite quick enough to dodge the giant of a woman.

"Allen!" Mana abandoned the ball he stood on, which rolled away neglected. "Allen, are you okay?"

Allen let out a small sob, holding his bad arm. "I-I think so," he choked out.

"Did you break anything?" Raine asked, kneeling next to Allen. "Does anything hurt?"

"Jus' my arm," he mumbled.

"How bad?" Lisa asked from beside Raine.

"Really, really bad."

"You!" Raine barked at one of the clowns. "Get some ice!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" The clown who'd fallen on him ran off.

"The rest of you, take five. We'll start again once we take care of him."

"Yes ma'am!" The other three clowns gratefully took their leave.

Raine watched them go, then turned back to Allen. "You're one unlucky brat, you know that?" She reached out to take his arm, but Allen pulled away. "Hey, I need to check if it's broken!"

Allen shook his head. Raine blew her loose bangs out of her face in irritation. "Look you, if it's broken, it's gonna hurt more and more and it'll swell up to the size of an elephant and you'll never be able to move it again. You don't want that, do ya?"

"Raine, let me handle this," Mana said. "He... has issues about that arm."

Raine and Lisa looked at each other, then at Mana. "What kind of issues?" they asked in unison.

Mana glanced down at Allen, who whimpered in pain. He knew he could trust Raine with Allen's secret, but Lisa... He may have thought of the other clown as a sister, but he also knew she was loose-lipped and would tell everyone in the circus before the day was over.

Lisa lifted her hands in defeat. "I get it, I get it. Too secret for a blabbermouth like me, neh?" She stood and walked away. "I'll see what's taking that one clown so long with the ice."

"So what kind of issue?" Raine asked again impatiently.

Mana turned back to Allen. "We need to make sure it's not broken," he said gently. "Can we see it?"

Allen shook his head.

"Allen, you heard what Raine said. Do you want it to hurt more?"

Allen shook his head.

"Do you want it to swell up?"

Allen shook his head.

"Then let us see it."

Slowly, as if to show he was unwilling to do so, Allen moved his arm so Mana could roll up his sleeve. Raine didn't flinch at the sight. She gently took Allen's arm into her hands and poked and prodded the leathery skin. The child whimpered slightly as she poked a particularly sore spot, but didn't react otherwise.

"Well, the good news is nothing's broken," Raine said at last. "The bad news is it's pretty bruised up. You probably sprained something, but it's hard to tell with your arm the way it is. We'll wrap it up anyway, just in case."

"How come you're not scared of it?" Allen asked abruptly.

"Scared of what? Your arm?" Raine laughed as she grabbed the first aid kit and pulled out some white bandages. "Trust me, I've seen weirder than this."

"Like what?" Allen challenged.

"Like my webbed feet."

"Do you really have webbed feet, or are you jus' makin' it up like Mana always does?"

Once she finished wrapping Allen's arm nice and tight, she pulled off her sock and shoe and wriggled her toes. They were indeed webbed together. "It's only this way with my one foot, though I wish both were like that. Then no one could beat me in a swimming race." She grinned and put her shoe and sock back on just as the two clowns returned with some ice.

"He's okay. Some ice and it'll be fine," Raine explained brightly. "Now then, shall we get back to work?"

And practice resumed yet again, this time with Allen sitting a little farther away from the action.

* * *

If no one noticed, I liberated the name Kimba from "Kimba the White Lion."

Hee hee... Yep, Raine's the one with the webbed toes. :) Me thinks it'd be kinda cool to have webbed feet, except I don't swim too much, so it'd be wasted on me.

As always, point out mistakes for me. I'm not perfect.


	7. The Pierrot and the Discovery

Mana and Allen stayed with the circus for about a week before Mana decided it was time to leave. Usually, Mana would have vanished without saying goodbye or letting anyone know where he was going, but having Allen with him made it more difficult. Allen wanted to say goodbye to Raine and Karos and the others, and who was Mana to tell him not to? It wasn't like he could tell Allen _not_ to say goodbye. It would only sadden the child who had at last started opening up to people.

It was a tearful goodbye, one Mana had always tried to avoid. Raine knew Mana always disappeared without a goodbye because he hated such scenes, so she made sure to keep things cheerful. For Allen, though, many were sad to see him go. They'd fallen in love with the little curious child who, though rude at times, was actually quite kind and gentle.

Mana offered to let Allen stay, but the child adamantly refused, saying he was going to stay with Mana and that he didn't want to have just moved from one circus to another. And so, their journey continued.

* * *

Spring came at last, and they were back in England. Sadly, the meager earnings of a traveling performer were hardly enough for the inns for more than a night. Of course, the prices also meant there weren't many traveling performers, so Mana decided to take full advantage of it.

While Mana juggled and clowned around, Allen had run off to play pirates with some children about his age that considered themselves too grown up to watch a clown as their younger siblings did. Mana didn't mind, though. He knew Allen would take care of himself, and the boy could use a little fun.

It was late afternoon by the time Mana got a chance to take his clown make up off. Once he was cleaned up and looked like a regular person and not a clown, he sat on a bench and watched Allen play with his new friends.

"So which is yours?"

Mana glanced up at the woman standing next to him. Dark curls framed her pale face. She smiled at the clown, her deep blue eyes bright in the shade of her expensive lace parasol. She tilted her head.

"Ah! Sorry." Mana wasn't used to talking with young rich women. He was more used to the outspoken Raine than the shy women of polite society. "He's the one with the brown hair that they're making walk the plank."

The woman giggled lightly, but stopped. She spotted it just as Mana did. She lifted her skirt and ran over, Mana hot on her heels. The other boys had decided that the "prisoner" shouldn't walk the plank wearing gloves and were trying to take Allen's away.

"No!" Allen screamed as they managed to pull it off. The children all froze. They'd never seen anything like Allen's deformed hand.

"It's a monster!" one of the boys shouted.

"It's gonna eat us!" screamed one of the others.

The kids ran away, but Mana couldn't tell if they were honestly frightened. It didn't matter anyway. Allen was what mattered. But before he could try to comfort the crying child, the rich woman was already doing so.

"It's all right," she whispered, stroking Allen's hair. "Those kids are just mean. You're not a monster like they say. They're the monsters."

Allen sniffled and looked up at the strange woman who didn't mind his hand in the least. "You don't hate me 'cause of it?"

"Of course not," the woman said, smiling. There was something behind that smile, though, something Mana couldn't figure out. "Why would I?"

Allen frowned at her. "You're just as weird as Mana."

"Mana?" the woman repeated. She glanced up at the clown in question and realized whom the child was talking about. "Ah, I see. You're Mana, right?" She stood and brushed her skirt off. "I'm Emma Wyatt. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Mana Walker," Mana replied awkwardly.

The woman looked back down at Allen. "And you are?"

"Allen."

"Allen Walker?"

"Nah, just Allen."

The woman frowned, her brow creasing. "What an odd child you have here, Mr. Walker," she commented. Her frown then turned back into a smile. "I know! How about we all go to my home and have some cake?"

"Cake?" Allen repeated. "Can I really?"

"Of course!" Emma said with a nod.

"We can't," Mana interrupted.

"We can't?" Allen looked up at Mana, and much to Mana's surprise, he looked a lot like the woman standing next to him. "Why not?"

"Because—"

"Because Mr. Walker here is worried about what society would think of me for letting a man and a child into my home," Emma explained, amusement written all over her face. "It'll be all right, though. Everyone already considers me a bit odd."

Mana sighed. The woman was determined for some reason. He could tell she wasn't an Akuma or a Noah—he'd been able to spot those after leaving the Earl—but he couldn't figure out why she'd want complete strangers in her home. Few trusted traveling performers, after all.

"Would you like to spend the night as well?"

"That's a little _too_ much," Mana mumbled. "It's one thing to let us have some cake. It's another thing to let us stay for the night."

The woman frowned. "It's lonely in that big house with only my servants. I live all alone except for them and my cat."

"Please Mana?"

"Yes, please Mr. Walker?"

They were so much alike. Mana had to give in and agree.

Emma led Mana and Allen down the streets to a large house a few blocks from the park where they'd met. Mana was surprised. Most women didn't like walking. She, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it.

"It's huge!" Allen said when they went inside. "You live here?"

"Yes," Emma replied, smiling. She led them into a sitting room. Once the two travelers were comfortable, Emma called two servants. The one she asked to prepare dinner for three, the other she asked to run and get their things from the inn they were staying at.

Mana gave the butler the key and told him which inn they were staying at. The other man seemed familiar with the place—or more the tavern next door—and left to collect their things. Mana just hoped the man wouldn't run into trouble.

"Who's that?" Allen asked, pointing at a painting of a young dancer over the mantel.

"Who indeed?" Emma replied vaguely. "It was painted quite some time ago."

"She's really pretty."

Mana glanced discreetly from the painting to Emma Wyatt. It could easily be of her. It was probably painted four or five years before. Mana asked if this was so.

"I think it's closer to eight, actually," Emma admitted.

"That's you? But—" Mana silenced Allen with a look. Mana knew he'd been about to make a comment on her age or her looks. It wasn't a good idea to get her mad, especially if they were staying for the night.

Emma seemed to have caught it, too, but she didn't say a word. She seemed amused by it, in fact.

"_Meow_."

"Oh! Luna!" Emma bent down and scooped up a black cat. "Let me introduce you. This is my cat, Luna. She's a little bad tempered, so—ouch!"

The cat bit her finger and jumped out of her arms. Allen hopped off the couch and went over to the cat, which hissed.

"Careful, she bites."

Allen didn't care, though. He slowly reached out to pet the cat. Luna sniffed his fingers, then rubbed against his hand and purred. The cat then put her paws on his knees and mewed sweetly.

"He might be an angel or a fairy," Emma whispered.

"Did you say something?" Mana wasn't sure he'd heard her right. An _angel_? For petting a cat?

"Ah, nothing." She smiled at Allen, who was still petting the cat like it was a harmless kitten. "So, Allen, can you read?"

The boy looked up and smiled. "Yep. Mana says I'm getting' really good at it."

"What have you read?"

Allen frowned. "Newspapers, mostly. Mana says I wouldn't understand the book he's always readin'.

"And what is it that you always read?" she asked Mana conversationally.

"Hamlet. It's the only book I have, I'm afraid."

Emma laughed. "Mr. Walker is certainly right. You wouldn't stand a chance against a book like that. Let's see..." She went over to a shelf against the wall and retrieved a book. She handed the book of brightly illustrated fairy tales to Allen. "I think this one is a little more appropriate."

Allen meekly took the book and opened it up. He traced the pictures and words. "Are you giving me this?"

"I have no use for it," Emma replied, smiling. She sat down, and Allen sat on the sofa between her and Mana, the book open on his lap. "We have time until supper, so shall we read?"

* * *

Mana hadn't had such a delicious meal since New Years with Raine and the rest of the circus. Allen, however, was a little less discreet about this fact. He ate four helpings of everything and would have eaten more if Mana hadn't told him to stop. It didn't help that Emma encouraged the boy to eat as much as he liked, even after his third plate.

After supper, Emma sent Allen upstairs to take a bath. For once, the child didn't complain endlessly and try to avoid it. Granted, that was because she'd promised him a slice of cake when he came back down nice and clean.

Once Allen had gone, Emma offered Mana some white wine. He accepted but didn't drink. Something seemed to be on her mind, and it would be best _not_ to be drunk when she undoubtedly wanted to talk.

When a few minutes passed and she hadn't started speaking, Mana decided he would have to ask. "Is something bothering you?"

Emma sipped her wine and set the glass back down. "That child... where did you find him?"

"South of here," Mana said, "at a circus. Why?"

"I think he might be my son."

Mana hadn't expected that. Of all the possibilities, Mana hadn't considered that one. "What makes you think that?"

"How many children of that age have deformed arms with a cross imbedded in the hand?" she asked bluntly.

"I guess you're right about that." Mana took a sip of his wine to give himself a moment, then said, "Why did you abandon him?"

"I didn't!" she shouted. "I wouldn't have." She couldn't look Mana in the eye. "I... When he was born..." She seemed unable to explain.

"Start from the beginning. I'm willing to listen."

Emma nodded. "Years ago, I used to dance ballet under the assumed name of Natasha Alexandrov. I traveled across Europe with a dance troupe and eventually met the owner of a playhouse we danced at, Michael Wyatt. We fell in love and were soon married. I meant to continue dancing even after our marriage, but... well, it didn't quite end up that way.

"A few weeks later," she explained, blushing, "I found out I was pregnant." She fiddled with her glass, too embarrassed to continue. Mana let her regain her composure. There was no rush. Despite Allen's endless complaints, it was near impossible to get the child _out_ of the bath once he was in.

"A-anyway," she continued, "everything was fine until a week before Allen was born. Michael... He went out one day and didn't come home. The police told me that a carriage horse went wild in the streets and he died saving a child. It was so like him." Tears were rolling down her cheeks now.

"If you want to stop, you can."

Emma shook her head. She took a deep breath to calm herself and continued. "You heard me earlier, when I said Allen was an angel? I truly believe that. I probably would have died of a broken heart if it weren't for him." She smiled shakily. "When I found out, I was beside myself. I was ready to end it all when Allen started moving around. It was like he was reminding me he was there for me." She wiped away her tears.

_So that's why she didn't create an Akuma..._ Mana thought. She was the type the Earl loved to go after: shocked by the death and beyond grief. Mana was sure she _would_ have died if it weren't for Allen.

Emma started speaking again, drawing Mana from his thoughts. "My mother took me in after that, saying it was too dangerous for me to live alone after something like that. Allen was born under her roof. I loved him the moment I laid eyes on him. My mother, though... She thought God had cursed us when she saw Allen's arm."

That's when it all added up. "Your mother was the one who abandoned Allen?"

"Yes. I fell asleep with him in my arms, but when I woke up, he was gone. I looked everywhere, had everyone search for him, but we couldn't find him." Emma folded her hands in her lap. "Mr. Walker, I have a request. I know it will sound selfish, but I... I'd like to be Allen's mother again. I want my son back."

"You'd have to ask Allen about that, Mrs. Wyatt," Mana replied. What else could he say? He wasn't even the boy's legal guardian. He couldn't make decisions for Allen like that.

"Mana?"

Mana turned to the door. "Finished with your bath already?" he asked. He hoped the boy hadn't heard their conversation. Allen already had enough problems with trust. If he thought Mana was trying to get rid of him, all the work Mana had put into getting Allen to trust him would be for naught.

Allen, though, hadn't heard. He climbed into the chair next to Mana and smiled at Emma, expecting cake. Emma nodded to the maid in the corner, who left and returned a few moments later with a large slice of cake just for him.

"So, Allen," Mana said, prompting Emma, "Mrs. Wyatt had a question she wanted to ask you."

The boy looked at Emma expectantly. "A-Allen, I was wondering... Would you like to stay here with me?" The woman was wringing her hands. "Mr. Walker has said if you wish, you could stay."

Allen's eyes widened. He looked at Mana, horrified, as if he thought Mana was pushing for the child to leave.

"It's your choice," Mana said, sensing the boy's fear. "You can stay with me or stay with her. We'll agree with your decision, Allen, whatever it may be."

The child looked from Mana's calm face to Emma's nervous frown. He seemed confused. "Don't you want me anymore, Mana?"

"I told you, you could leave whenever you wished," Mana replied.

"That's not an answer!"

"I know." Mana didn't want to influence Allen's decision. He'd miss him and worry that the seal might break without him being nearby, but Allen would also be safer with this woman who knew nothing of Akuma or Noah or Exorcists. "I don't want to make you feel that you have to stay with me, Allen. If you want to stay here with Mrs. Wyatt, you're welcome to. If you want to keep traveling with me, you're welcome to do that too."

"You want to get rid of me," Allen whispered.

"Of course not," Mana said. "We only want what you—"

"You don't want me anymore!" Allen left his half-eaten cake and ran away, tears in his eyes.

"Allen!" Mana stood and followed after. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Wyatt," he called over his shoulder before he left the room.

Mana searched and searched, but Allen was nowhere to be found. He wasn't hiding under tables or inside cabinets or closets. If Allen heard Mana calling him, he didn't answer. He must have been really upset.

"Have you found him?" Emma asked breathlessly. She'd been searching for the lost child as well.

"No. I've checked everywhere I can think of."

"None of the help have found him either." She glanced down the hall, then said, "Do you think he ran away?"

Mana frowned. He _had_ been very upset, but Mana didn't think Allen would leave the house. "Where haven't we looked yet?" he asked instead.

"Ma'am!"

Emma turned, as did Mana. One of the maids, out of breath but looking triumphant, was running down the hallway. "I've found him!" She stopped and caught her breath before saying. "He's asleep in his room. Didn't make a peep when I opened the door. Poor boy was probably exhausted and wandered up to go to bed."

Emma apparently hadn't told them the real reason Allen had wandered away, but Mana decided whatever she'd told them didn't matter. He had to go apologize and tell Allen that he wasn't trying to get rid of him.

The maid led them both up to the room where, as she had said, Allen was sleeping soundly. Mana put a hand on Allen's shoulder to shake him awake, but the boy sat up without the help.

"What?" he asked. His eyes were red and his voice dull. Apparently, he'd been crying the whole time and had just stayed silent when the maid found him.

Mana pulled the boy into a hug. "Allen, we didn't mean to upset you. We just wanted to let you know that if you wanted to stay here, you could have."

"But I can't leave you, Mana. Raine made me promise to make sure nothing happened to you."

Mana sighed. So Raine had been partly involved in this little outburst. "Allen, don't worry about what you promised Raine," he said calmly. "I want to know what _you_ want. You can stay here or come with me. I won't make you choose one or the other. I just want to know what you want to do."

Allen frowned. "So I don't have to stay here? You don't want me staying here?"

"It's up to you," Mana said. "I don't want to tell you one way or the other."

"Then I can stay with you?"

"If that's what you want."

Allen hugged Mana back. "I don't have to leave?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"I don't wanna." Allen sniffled and buried his face in Mana's chest.

So that was it. Allen was afraid Mana would want to get rid of him, even after all the time they'd spent together. Allen was scared that the one person that had accepted him would decide he didn't like him and throw him away the same way he thought his parents had.

"Then you don't have to stay here," Mana whispered. "We'll leave in the morning. Okay?"

Allen nodded against Mana's chest. "Mana?"

"Hn?"

"I'm sorry for runnin' away again."

Mana patted the boy's head. "It's all right. Just get some sleep, okay?" He laid the child back down and tucked him in. "I'll see you in the morning."

The boy nodded and yawned. He was asleep before Mana shut the door.

"It seems he's made his decision," Emma said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"So it seems," Mana agreed.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "So who's this Raine person he mentioned? Your wife?" The blush and look of surprise was enough of an answer. She smiled slyly. "I see. I hope she's a good mother for him."

Mana choked down a laugh. "Yes, she'd be a good mother if she traveled with us. She really cares for Allen when we're together."

"It must be nice," Emma said wistfully. She curtseyed and started walking away. "I hope you sleep well, Mr. Walker."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted," Mana said before she had gone.

"It's all right. At least I know he's in good hands." Emma smiled at him, but Mana could see the tears at the edge of her eyes. "But, if you ever pass by again, I would love to see you both again. I'd love to meet your wife too someday."

She turned to leave again, but Mana stopped her again. "One moment. I'd like to know three things about Allen." When she agreed to answer them, Mana asked, "What day was Allen born, how old is he, and what were you going to name him?"

Emma stared a moment, then laughed. Not a polite society woman's laugh, but a laugh that lasted until she was gasping for air. "Here I thought it would be something serious!" she managed between laughs. "I was going to name him Edward, but my mother took him away before I'd decided. He was born on Christmas day and turned seven this year." She breathed deeply to stop her uncontrollable giggles. "Good night, Mr. Walker. I hope you sleep well."

"Thank you for allowing us to stay the night." Mana bowed and went into his room once she'd disappeared around a corner down the hall. He smiled to himself.

So he'd found Allen on his real birthday and had assumed the right age for the child. This was something ironic and almost story-like. Mana laughed. He couldn't help it. Maybe it was just built up stress from everything that had occurred that day, but he didn't mind. He hadn't laughed like that since before his brother had awakened as a Noah, and he was glad he'd finally been able to again. Once the fit of laughter had passed, Mana realized he _hadn't_ laughed since his brother became a Noah. Not until he'd met Allen, at least.

Mana sat down on the bed and smiled. He was helping Allen, taking care of him and loving the child for nothing, and yet the boy _had_ given something back. He'd taught Mana to smile and laugh again, to feel more than the heavy grief that had swallowed him since his brother passed away. _Maybe God led me to Allen and Allen to me so we could help each other,_ Mana thought sleepily, and for the first time since he'd met the Millenium Earl, he thanked God.

* * *

...I can't help but feel the urge to bang my head against the desk after writing this chapter. I don't know why...

Anyway, if you see any typos, feel free to tell me. I like corrections. :)


	8. The Pierrot and the Dream

The next morning, Allen and Mana said goodbye to Emma after a huge breakfast, but not before the rich woman slipped an envelope full of money into Mana's hand. She waved to them as they walked away, a big smile on her face. But Mana knew that the smile was false. He'd worn the same mask for so long that he could recognize it on other people.

Still, they had to keep walking. And so, they walked.

* * *

The night was still and dark. Mana was walking through the streets, his dog at his heels. He didn't have to look to know the dog was padding softly after him. The dog always followed him, so he didn't think to check to make sure he was keeping up.

"Which way, which way?" Mana murmured to himself, looking down two paths forking away from him. In the end, it didn't really matter. He just had to keep walking to make sure the Earl didn't catch up with him.

"Well, well, well, whatever do we have here?"

Mana stiffened. He recognized that voice. How could he not? He'd heard that voice for so long, it was imprinted in his memory.

He also knew what he had to do. He started running, knowing the dog would keep up easily. He had to run, to escape the voice he knew so well.

"Mana!"

The man froze. He knew that voice too. _Oh God, please no..._ He slowly turned and saw Allen's corpse in an Akuma's grip. A small girl with short, messy dark hair floated on a pumpkin-headed umbrella next to the child, smiling as she licked some blood—Allen's blood, Mana realized—off her fingers.

"Delicious!" the evil girl laughed. The Akuma dropped the child's body and started for Mana. "You're next. Any last words?"

* * *

Mana woke with a start and sat up so quickly, he hit his head against something. That something let out a small yelp of pain and gripped his forehead, which was what Mana's had smashed into.

"Ah! Sorry, Allen!" The clown hurried to check on the child. It was summer now, almost half a year since he had stumbled across Allen, and still the boy hadn't learned not to surprise Mana like that. "You scared me."

"_You_ scared _me_!" the boy snapped back, holding his forehead and refusing to allow Mana to take a look. "You were cryin' in your sleep and I was gonna wake you up!"

Mana blinked, then rubbed his eyes. He had been crying in his sleep, just as the child said.

"Wanna talk about it?" Allen asked. It was like when Allen had a nightmare and Mana tried to comfort him, only reversed.

"It's fine, Allen," Mana replied, faking a smile. "Just a dream."

"A scary one?"

"You don't have to worry about me," Mana said, digging through his things. The nightshirt he was wearing was sticky with sweat.

"But you always worry 'bout me," Allen pointed out.

"That's because I'm older."

Allen pouted as Mana changed into his clown costume. "Was it a sad dream?"

"Allen," Mana said warningly, "that's enough."

"A bad dream?"

"Quit while you're ahead, kiddo." Mana pulled out his clown make up and started painting his face white.

"But I wanna know!"

"There are things you shouldn't know," the clown replied, adding the finishing touches to his face.

"Was it that bad?"

Mana ignored the question. The dream was still clear in his mind... He shuddered and put away his things. He knew it was just a dream and not a vision. He knew it was a dream because in it he'd thought it was still just his dog following him. Had it been a vision, it would have been like being awake, meaning he would have known it was Allen following and not his dead dog.

"Mana!" Allen whined.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Mana asked, gesturing to the bakery on the table. This inn was a little strange in the fact that it didn't offer breakfast. Apparently, its chef wasn't a morning person, so Mana had bought some donuts at the nearby bakery.

"A little," Allen replied. "Three for me, three for you."

Mana smiled and picked up one of the plain cake donuts. "Two for me, four for you. Deal?"

The boy's eyes lit up and talk of the dream was quickly forgotten.

* * *

As if the events of that spring had been forgotten, Allen ran off to play with some local kids while Mana juggled and earned enough for their dinner. This time, though, Mana did keep an eye on what was happening with Allen's new friends while he performed. On occasion, the group of kids would stop their game of tag to "ooh" and "aw" with the rest of the crowd watching Mana.

A few hours later, Mana sent Allen to the deli down the street for some sandwiches. Allen's new friends seemed impressed that Allen knew the clown and got to eat with him while their parents dragged them back home to eat. They sprang up again as soon as they finished, of course, and Allen ran off to play more games, leaving Mana to perform on his own yet again. The clown had to admit, it was a little lonely not having Allen attached at the hip anymore.

By mid-afternoon, Mana was exhausted from being under the hot sun in his costume and make up. He called Allen over, told him he'd be back in a few minutes once he changed, and walked the maybe thirty meters to the inn. The boy had happily agreed to wait there and ran back to his friends as soon as Mana left.

He wasn't there when Mana returned, however. His friends were, and they seemed panicky, especially with the clown back.

"Where's Allen?" Mana asked them.

"O-our ball rolled on a cart!" one of the kids babbled. "H-he went to go get it, but they started leaving before he got off! Closed the cart up, they did!"

Mana's eyes widened. "Which way did they go?"

The children pointed down the street. Mana cursed under his breath and started running after the cart. It had to have left when he went inside, since Mana couldn't see it anywhere. There had been only one cart on the street—a merchant's cart with a lot of rugs—so it wouldn't be too hard to spot when he finally caught up. If he caught up, that is.

He kept running, even as he left the small town and the cobblestone streets turned to dirt. The way was uneven from all the heavy carts leaving ruts and Mana tripped from time to time, but he got right back up and continued his mad dash.

His lungs were screaming and he was sweating profusely by the time he reached the stopped cart. It seemed the driver finally realized he had an extra passenger and stopped to send the boy back to town on another cart heading that way, but Allen wasn't having any of it. The poor boy was crying and refusing either driver's help.

"Allen!" Mana called.

The boy's head shot up. He leapt off the cart and buried his face in Mana's shirt.

"Is that your kid?" the rug merchant asked.

Mana nodded and ran his fingers through Allen's hair. "Shh... It's okay, Allen. I'm here."

The child looked up and sniffled. "I-I was scared you'd forget about me," he whispered before burying his face again in Mana's dusty clothes. "I-I was scared you'd leave me."

"I can give you both a ride back," the other merchant offered.

"No, no," Mana said, shaking his head. "I think he's had enough cart rides for today."

The two drivers looked at each other, shrugged, and started on their ways again. Mana pulled Allen to the side of the road and sat him under a tree. The boy just wouldn't stop crying.

"Allen, I'm still here," Mana said, his voice as soothing as he could make it. "I wouldn't leave you." He sighed when Allen broke out into fresh sobs. It was time for a different tactic.

"Allen, you'll make yourself sick if you keep crying like this."

Still, Allen didn't stop.

Mana thought for a moment, then said, "I'll get you an extra donut for breakfast tomorrow if you stop crying."

That did the trick. Tears were still rolling down Allen's cheeks, but at least he was calming down now. Apparently, the promise of breakfast assured Allen he wasn't going anywhere for the time being.

The clown stood and helped his assistant up off the wilting grass. "Come on, let's head back." He offered the boy his hand, but Allen shook his head.

They made their way back to town, Allen straggling behind Mana, but the boy refused to let Mana give him a piggyback ride or to stop and rest. Mana considered what he could say to the boy to cheer him up. It was obvious the child was worrying about what had just happened with the cart and what could have happened if the driver hadn't found him before Mana gave up his search.

Mana heard a soft thump behind him and turned to see Allen on his knees, panting and tired from worrying and walking in the mid-summer heat. The clown walked back and decided what it was he should say.

"Don't stop," he said. "Keep walking until the day you die."

Allen looked up, confused. He was even more confused when Mana lifted him off the ground and onto his back to carry him.

"What's that mean?" the boy asked.

"It's an old saying," Mana replied. _One of my brother's favorites,_ he added mentally. "It means that you should keep moving forward and shouldn't fret about the past. What's behind you is behind you and you should just keep thinking about the present and future."

"Oh." Allen leaned his head on Mana's shoulder closed his eyes. A few minutes passed before he asked, "Hey Mana, how come you always seem so sad?"

Mana didn't stop walking, even though he was surprised by the question. "What do you mean, Allen?"

"This morning," the child explained, "when you said there are things I shouldn't know, you looked really sad. And I've seen it before. When you don't think I'm looking, or even when I am, you look really sad, even when you're smiling. How come?"

A sad smile played out across Mana's lips. "Because grief's a heavy burden to bear, Allen."

"What's grief mean?" Allen asked.

"It's when you're really sad about something you've lost."

Allen seemed even more confused. "You're still sad about your dog?"

A genuine smile replaced the sad one as Mana tried to stifle a laugh unsuccessfully. "No, I'm not sad about Nicoli."

"Oh." Allen hugged Mana from behind. "Good. 'Cause I'm here for you."

"I know."

Allen shifted on Mana's back. "So what are you so sad about?"

"There are some things you shouldn't know, Allen."

"Meanie! That's what you said last time, too!"

Mana laughed. "And that's what I'll always say until you're older, Allen!" he teased, even as Allen fumed on his back.

"Meanie!"

"Ouch, don't hit, Allen! I won't buy you an extra donut if you keep this up!" Despite the words, Mana was still laughing, especially because his donut threat had actually worked. And, not for the first time, Mana wished things could stay like this forever.

* * *

Short chapter. Will make up for it with another update as soon as I can write it.

If you spot any errors, please tell me! I like corrections, honest! I won't hurt you for them. I also like your opinions, so please review. XD Thanks for reading!

...Something about Allen being pacified by food makes me laugh.


	9. The Pierrot and the Lost Boy

The air was cool the day the Harvest Festival got under way. Allen stared around the fair, eyes wide in excitement. There were food stalls and games and everything else a little boy could only dream of.

"Now Allen," Mana said, drawing the child's attentions away from the sounds and excitement, "stay close to me, all right?"

Allen glanced over at a shooting game. Mana could tell the child was just itching to go and try some of the games the other children were playing, but he didn't want to lose the child in the crowd.

"Allen!"

The boy flinched and looked back at the clown. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't get lost. Stay close to me."

Allen took Mana's hand, and they started walking through the crowded area until they reached an open place where a big bonfire was just starting. There was a small band whipping up a how down for the farmers and their wives to dance to. Allen's grip on Mana's hand loosened as he saw the many people and heard the up-tempo music.

Mana sighed. The festivities were drawing Allen's attention like a moth to a flame, and there was nothing he could do about it. The clown glanced around quickly. He didn't feel any Akuma or Noah nearby—he had enough wards around him to know right away—so there wasn't any harm in Allen enjoying himself.

Somehow, Mana was able to get Allen's attention again and pressed a few coins into the child's hand. "Go have some fun, but meet me back here before that band over there stops playing, understand?"

"But isn't that after my bedtime?" Allen asked.

"You can stay out a little later tonight," Mana said, ruffling Allen's hair. "Just be careful, don't go with people you don't know, and _don't_ leave the fairground."

Allen frowned. "I can take care of myself," he pointed out.

"Just promise me you'll be careful."

The boy nodded and ran off. Mana watched him disappear into the crowd before he started setting up his clown act. Maybe he was just being a worrywart father-type and should let Allen make mistakes and learn from them himself. It was just so _hard_ to do that, though.

The night soon became busy for Mana as many of the children gathered around him to watch him juggle. They cheered and pulled their parents over to throw some money into the upturned top hat for the nice clown. He made quite a bit of money this way. Over all, it was a successful night.

The band was playing its last tune just as Mana called it a night. The clown glanced around, but Allen was nowhere to be seen. The crowds were clearing away, all going home after their fun. Mana glanced around the emptying fairgrounds, but when he didn't spot the child, he decided to start searching. He was the only clown at the festival, making him easy to spot.

First, Mana decided to ask around about the lost boy. He asked the fire breathers and the musicians, thinking Allen might've stopped to see their show. When they said they hadn't seen anyone fitting his description, Mana thanked them and moved on to asking the few stragglers at the food and game stands. One or two had spotted Allen earlier in the night, but not recently. Again, Mana thanked them and moved on.

When asking around didn't work, Mana had to go with his back up plan, which he was hoping he wouldn't have to use around ten at night.

"Allen!" he called as he wandered hopelessly around the vacant fairgrounds. "Allen, where are you?"

Things were looking bad, and Mana felt his heart pounding. What if he'd been wrong? What if there _had_ been an Akuma? The magician side quickly dismissed the thought because he would have sensed the monstrosity. The more practical side of him said that there would have been a panic if such a creature appeared, or at least a lot less people enjoying his show.

That fear gone, Mana continued his search, shouting, "Allen!" every so often in hopes of a response.

It was getting closer and closer to midnight now, and Mana was starting to get worried. It was getting colder, forcing Mana to draw his coat more tightly around him and his costume. "Allen!" he called again. If he was cold, Allen must have been freezing.

"_What if the Noah found him?_" a voice in the back of Mana's head asked. "_Or what if the child snatchers caught him?_"

Mana brushed away the stray thought. He wouldn't believe it—yet.

"Allen!" he called one last time.

A sniffling sound was his only response.

Optimistic, Mana called again, "Allen!"

The child in question stood up, perplexed. He'd been sitting between two of the closed food vendor stands to hide from the wind and thus from sight. He wasn't crying as Mana had first assumed. In fact, he was munching quite happily on some cotton candy. The sniffling, in fact, seemed to come from the cold he must have caught wandering around in the frigid air.

"Allen, do you know how worried I've been about you?" Mana scolded. It was hard to sound angry when he was just so relieved to find him safe and sound.

"I got lost," Allen replied innocently, "and you told me that if I got lost to stay in one place and you'd find me."

Mana stared at the child a minute. "You got lost?" he repeated. "At this small of a fair?" The child nodded, making Mana laugh. "Well, let's head back, then. I don't want you catching a cold on us."

* * *

The inn they were staying at this time was a tiny place just outside of the fairgrounds. The few rooms were just as tiny as the rest of the inn, but neither cared about the cramped conditions. The rooms could have been worse, like infested with rats or leaky ceilings or drafts. Cramped as it was, the room was comfortable enough, so neither complained.

Mana had been right about Allen's cold. The boy was sniffling and sneezing by the time they got to their room. The clown dug through his things while Allen got ready for bed. "Where'd I put it?"

"Put what?" Allen asked. He sneezed again and climbed under the warm covers.

Mana didn't answer, as he found what he was looking for. "Allen, suck on this, would you?" He held out a small hard candy.

The boy more than willingly took it and popped it in his mouth. When he discovered the thing wasn't candy at all, he spat it out into his hand, making a face. "What is this?"

"It's medicine," Mana replied coolly. "A cough drop. It'll nip that cold of yours in the bud." He was stretching the truth ever so slightly, though. Being the magician he was, Mana had created the little hard candy to cure just about any minor malady, from the common cold to the flu to a low-grade fever. It worked rather well, too.

"I don't want it," Allen muttered. "I'd rather have my cold."

"Allen."

The boy heard the warning tone in Mana's voice and put the sticky "cough drop" back in his mouth. He pouted as he sucked it, glaring as Mana washed his clown make up off. "Why's medicine gotta taste so bad, anyway?"

Mana chuckled. "It's an unspoken law of the universe, Allen. Anything that's good for you has to taste bad." He finished washing his face and changed for bed. "It'll be gone soon."

A minute or so passed, then, "Mana?"

"Hn?"

"Sorry for making you worry before. I saw somethin' cool and got lost."

Mana smiled and ruffled the child's hair. "It's fine. Just get some sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow and I'm not carrying you the whole way again." He tucked the child in and chuckled at Allen's groan.

"Why do we always leave so soon?" Allen asked sleepily. "Can't we stay longer someplace?"

"I wish we could, Allen," Mana replied vaguely before turning out the light.

* * *

There's the second chapter to make up for the shortness of the first. ...And it's even shorter than the first... :( I promise, more'll happen in the next chapter, I promise!

As always, if you see any mistakes, please tell me!


	10. The Magician and the Code

Time passed, and soon snow covered all the dead leaves on the ground. Allen grumbled quietly to himself as he and Mana walked through the ankle-deep snow. It was the light and fluffy kind of snow, the kind that stuck to your clothes like powdered sugar and reflected what little sunlight there was so it blinded you.

They'd started out early that morning and planned to make their way to the next town by noon. It hadn't gotten warmer as Mana had originally thought before setting out, and the wind was picking up, making the air seem colder than it really was. The two had been walking maybe three hours before Allen stopped.

"I'm tired," Allen complained. "My feet hurt, and I can't feel my toes."

Mana tried to smile and failed. His feet were hurting and he couldn't feel his toes either, but he'd been ignoring it. Allen's complaints just reminded him of that fact. "Want to take a break?"

"It's too cold to take a break. We'll freeze to death."

Sighing, Mana glanced up and down the road they were walking on. There weren't any houses, so there wasn't any possibility of a nice person willing to give a Pierrot and his child assistant some warm place to rest. There wasn't even an abandoned barn to stop the wind that blew wisps of snow into the air and stabbed at their faces like pins and needles.

"We're gonna freeze to death, aren't we?"

"We won't, we won't," Mana assured the child. "We can build a fire, if you're really cold."

"From what?" the pessimistic child asked. He looked around the open field. "There's no wood here."

The boy was right, of course. That's why the wind was so bad.

Mana was sorely tempted to just use some magic to light a fire, but he'd been keeping his ability secret from Allen. Even if he sent Allen to search for wood and started a magic flame, claiming he found some sticks under the snow, it would still be obvious the flame wasn't natural. Magic flames _never_ took on the normal hues of fire. They always ended up some random color, like periwinkle or green. Mana's flames especially took on weird shade, as the flames seemed never able to decide what it wanted to be and thus crackled every color of the rainbow and then some. Mana decided he'd only do it if he had to, and at the moment, he didn't have to.

"Hey, Mana?"

Mana paused. He'd just been about to start walking again. Thinking the boy was probably about to ask for a ride on his back, he asked, "What is it, Allen?"

"I wanna show you something."

Confused, Mana squatted down as Allen picked up an abandoned stick and started sketching in the snow, making each symbol he carved deep enough so you could see the stone road below. "This one... and this one..." Allen muttered as he drew in the snow, "and done!" He lifted the stick out of the snow and grinned at Mana. "Guess what it says!"

Mana tilted his head at the four symbols Allen had sketched. The second and fourth symbols were the same, while the first and third were different from each other and the matching symbols. A code of some sort, Mana guessed, but it seemed oddly familiar. "Give me a hint, Allen."

Allen pointed to the first and said, "That's for M."

That made it too easy. "Mana, right?"

Allen's eyes lit up. "You guessed it!" He scribbled down a five more of the symbols. Two were the same as in the first little code (the a and the n).

"It's Allen," Mana guessed. He kept his voice level, even though he knew where he'd seen this code before. He and his brother had come up with it years ago, before the Earl had appeared.

Allen pouted. "You're too good at this."

Mana forced a smile. "Why don't you show me all of them, Allen? Then we can write secret messages to each other."

The boy was excited by this and wrote every letter of the alphabet in his little code, saying which letter went with what symbol as he wrote. Mana recognized every letter and probably knew the code better than Allen did. The question was, though, _how_ did Allen know that code? It couldn't simply be coincidence. Every symbol was exactly the same as theirs had years before Allen would've been born.

Once Allen was finished, Mana asked how he'd come up with such a complicated code. The boy grinned and said, "Dunno. Just thought it up one day."

Mana took the twig from Allen and sketched something of his own in the snow. Then he stood up and stretched. The cold made him stiff, and it was especially cold that day.

The boy frowned, trying to make sense of his own code, then grinned. "Ready to go, right?" He stood and brushed the snow off his knees. "Ready when you are!"

The clown nodded, knelt back down for Allen, and the child climbed onto his back. The boy thanked him quietly for carrying him, and Mana said he didn't mind. They'd both be warmer like this, anyway.

A few more hours, and they finally saw the first signs of town. Allen cheered and hopped off Mana's back to go on ahead. He stopped, then ran back to Mana, slipping on some hidden ice here and there. "You can see the circus from here!"

Surprised, Mana let Allen lead him to the top of the hill. Just as Allen said, he could see the fairgrounds and the circus trailers. They couldn't tell which circus it was from that distance, but Mana knew they'd have to go down and find out.

They started walking down the hill, but Allen slipped on a patch of ice and fell. The whole slope was ice, and the boy slid the whole way down, pulling Mana along with him. They crashed into a small snow bank at the bottom with a loud thump.

Mana sat up with a groan. Allen, meanwhile, stayed lying on his back, laughing so hard that tears were in the corners of his eyes. "That was great! Let's do it again!"

"No," Mana said, standing and wincing as something popped back into place. "Let's not go again."

"Meanie," Allen grumbled before brushing the snow off his coat.

Mana heard uncontrollable laughed and then the laughing woman say, "Oh look, I've found a couple snowmen."

Mana picked up his top hat a few feet away and swept the snow from the brim. "Afternoon, Raine."

The trapeze artist grinned at them both. "I see you both had a lot of fun coming down the hill. I think a sled would've worked better, though."

Allen frowned and asked what a sled was. Once Raine explained, his face lit up and he turned to Mana. "Can we go sledding? Please?"

"_You_ can go sledding," Mana replied. "_I'm_ going to stay here and warm up a bit."

"You're no fun," both Allen and Raine chorused in unison. Mana slapped his forehead at his wife's childish behavior. Allen he'd expect it from. Raine... well, he sort of expected that from her too, but not in front of Allen and not to say he was no fun. He was a clown; his _job_ was fun.

Still, he wasn't about to let them accuse him of not being fun. He scooped up a handful of powdery snow, formed it the best he could, and threw it at Allen. It hit the boy square in the face, making the boy jump and cry out in shock. The next snowball went at Rain, who, expecting the cold blow, dodged before it got even close. She then scooped up her own snowball and whipped it at her husband.

"Got ya!" she laughed as it smacked his top hat off.

But Mana already had another snowball ready and got Raine with it.

And so the epic snowball war began. It ended with Allen slipping on another icy patch. Thankfully, he landed in another snowdrift and didn't hurt himself. Still, that ended the fun, as Allen at last decided he was too cold and hungry to play anymore.

They went inside the food tent, where plenty were still eating lunch. Rain went and got them both large bowls of soup and some hot tea. Allen ignored the tea—as he didn't like that sort of thing—and gulped down four bowls of soup. He would've eaten Mana's too, but Raine was keeping a close eye on them to make sure Mana didn't share.

After lunch and many hellos from other troop members, Allen almost fell asleep at the table. It was all Mana could do to keep the child awake enough to get to the trailer—this time a larger green one—so he wouldn't have to carry him. The boy was out like a light as soon as he hit the pillow.

Now Mana had the chance. He touched Allen's forehead and whispered in the words of magic, _"Awaken."_

The symbols he'd drawn on Allen's forehead almost a year before appeared, blazing just as brightly as they had when he first set them there. That was a good sign, but it didn't explain how Allen knew that code. So, he asked the magic he set there what had happened.

It sparked its answer. Only the best magicians could understand the words of magic. All could speak them, but few could understand the magic's reply. _"Nothing, Lord Magician."_

_"Then how did he know that code?"_

_"It's been there for quite some time,"_ the magic said. _"He's used it without realizing it many times. It's there, in his own memory and not the Fourteenth Noah's."_

So that was it. Allen had thought up the code somehow before Mana had sealed his memories. That struck Mana as odd, as Allen hadn't known how to read, and the code was based off the English alphabet. Though, he supposed Allen might have known how to read them like he could English. Mana and his brother had gotten to that point when they were younger. They'd known their code better than actual English and used it to their advantage when they'd run away from the Earl.

_"Can you erase it?"_ he asked.

The symbols twinkled in their inaudible language, _"No, not without harming his mind."_

Mana sighed. _Of course._ He waved his hand and the symbols vanished as quickly as they'd appeared. There wasn't anything he could do, then.

"You look depressed," Raine commented when he'd returned from Allen's trailer. "What's up?"

"Nothing too much," Mana replied. It really wasn't anything, after all. Allen didn't suspect a thing about the Fourteenth's memories, after all. He thought he'd come up with that code all on his own, so why did Mana feel disappointed in himself?

"Sounds like too much to be nothing." Raine glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot, and asked quietly, "Is the seal breaking?"

Mana sighed. Karos must have felt the seal on Allen when they were there last time, and Raine must have forced the information out of the poor modified Akuma. "No. It's nothing like that."

"Then what is it?"

The clown shook his head.

"Do you need a nap too?" his wife asked playfully. "You're such a little kid sometimes, Mana."

Mana pulled her into a brief kiss, then ambled away, for once leaving Raine speechless.

* * *

Whee. Chapter. Another one soon. Honest. Have to work on co-writes and stuff, but I swear chapter of this soon.

Oh, and as it was a common question, the cool thing that distracted Allen enough to get him lost was the cotton candy he was eating. XD


	11. The Pierrot and the Gift

Mana sighed in frustration. Once again, he'd forgotten the date. Christmas and Allen's birthday were in less than a week, and here Mana had forgotten a present. Now he was scrambling at the last minute, trying to think of something to give Allen, and Raine wasn't being much help either.

"What would your brother have liked when he was Allen's age?" Raine asked, flipping through a catalog she'd picked up somewhere.

Mana gave her one of those looks, which she chose to acknowledge for once. "Oh come on, Mana. I'm not trying to offend you or anything. I'm just saying he's more like your brother at that age than you. Unless you _really_ think Allen would prefer a textbook or something."

Again, Mana sighed. She had a point. Mana had been a bookworm as a kid, while his brother had been the adventurous type like Allen was now. Still, he didn't want to get him something he'd have gotten his brother.

"A pet, then? Allen loves animals. He might like a puppy or—"

"We have enough trouble feeding ourselves, let alone a dog." He rubbed his eyes. There was no way they could afford to keep a dog. Besides, if the dog were to die, Allen would be heart broken. The memory of Allen crying over Nicoli was still fresh in his mind.

Raine almost read Mana's thoughts and set down the catalog. "You could always get him some kind of food," she suggested. "This _is_ Allen, after all. He'd eat anything you put in front of him."

"There's no way anything I get Allen can beat the cake you people are plotting to bake for him."

Raine decided to ignore this complaint. "You could get him something he likes that he doesn't eat all that often. Cookies, or maybe chocolate or toffees."

Mana shook his head.

"Hey, you asked for my help," Raine pointed out. "If you keep this up, I'll leave you to figuring all this out on your own."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just—"

"—Want Allen's first birthday-Christmas party to be special," Raine finished for him. "We're working on it, Mana. _You_ concentrate on the gift problem. _We'll_ get the party all together, okay?"

Mana sighed. "What would you get Allen?"

"I'd get him something to eat," Raine said matter-of-factly. She looked thoughtful a moment, then said, "You know, Asian things have been getting popular all over Europe lately, especially the more fancy Chinese and Japanese things." Seeing she had Mana's attention, she added, "I saw a bakery that seemed to make Asian-style foods. They might even have that rice-dough thing you like so much."

"You mean Mitarashii Dango?"

"Yeah, that stuff. Maybe you can get some of that for Allen."

Mana shook his head. Dango was _a lot_ different than European food. The likelihood that Allen would like it was pretty low.

"Well, there's also a bakery that has those little snack-cake things we liked when we were kids," Raine said. "I _know_ he'd like those."

"That could work." Mana nodded to himself. When he, Raine, and Allen (his brother) were younger, any money they got for the various odd jobs they did usually went straight to the local sweet shop and bakery, where they'd spend it all on candy and junk food, especially something the baker called "Baby Cakes."

"_Could_ work?" Raine repeated. "Mana, do you _remember_ how many odd jobs we did to get those?"

"Well, they can't be the same as when we were kids. That baker was ancient."

Raine grinned. "When I heard that bakery had those cakes, I went to check it out. Turns out, the old baker's granddaughter got the recipe and makes them exactly like her grandma. So," she said, still grinning, "want the address?"

Mana couldn't help but grin back.

* * *

Meanwhile, Allen was having a very similar conversation with Karos. The magician was practicing his card tricks with Allen as the assistant. As Karos had done these tricks hundreds of times, he didn't really have to concentrate on what he was doing, so he and Allen were talking.

"So you get people presents for Christmas?" Allen asked, handing the card he'd just memorized back to Karos.

"Yep." Karos shuffled the deck. "You give and receive presents." He lifted the top card, revealing the one Allen had just been holding.

"What do you usually give people?"

Karos shrugged. "You can give just about anything, I guess. It's the thought that counts, really."

Allen frowned. "I don't get it."

"You're not alone. I don't get it either."

"If it's that confusing, why do people do it?"

"To celebrate," Karos replied with another shrug. "Some say it's because the three kings brought gifts for baby Jesus and exchanging presents represents that. Some say it's because the kind St. Nicholas gave presents to others and started the tradition of exchanging gifts with those they care about. I'm not sure which is the case, but both make sense."

"Huh." Allen watched as Karos shuffled the cards again. "What should I get for Mana?"

Karos paused in his shuffling. "You want to give him something?"

"Well, you said people give presents to people you care about, right? I wanna give Mana something."

The magician smiled. "The thought is what counts. If you think he'll like it, I'm sure he'll like it."

"But what can I get for him? I don't have any money."

"Sometimes the best things in life are free." Karos knelt down and whispered something in Allen's ear.

Allen's eyes widened. "But—"

"If you don't like that, I'll pick up something Mana really likes for you," Karos said. "And you've more than earned it by helping me with my tricks." He smiled and put his cards away.

"Thank you, Karos."

* * *

Christmas Day at last came. Unlike usual, Mana didn't go to wake Allen up and instead helped everyone set up for the party. He knew Allen would eventually wake up and wander in on his own, and they wanted everything ready.

They finished preparations, and Mana went to go wake Allen. The boy was still sleeping and was less than willing to get up than usual. It was only when Mana said it was Christmas morning that Allen awoke. He jumped out of bed, changed out of his pajamas, and half-dragged Mana to the food tent. Either he was very hungry or very excited for Christmas breakfast.

Allen wasn't expecting what he found, however.

The table was covered with gingerbread waffles and other delicious treats. The corner was piled high with presents. But Allen didn't notice either of these. What he noticed was a huge banner hanging over the table reading, "Happy Birthday, Allen!"

Mana had to give Allen a gentle push to get him moving, the boy was so stunned by everything. When he sat down, Karos and Lionel came out with two huge sheet cakes. Allen's eyes widened at the sight.

"Cake? We're having cake for breakfast?" he asked, astonished.

"Of course cake for breakfast!" Raine said, retrieving a box of matches from her pocket. "Your birthday only comes once a year, after all." She struck a match and lit the eight candles on one of the sheet cakes.

She waved out the match after everything was lit and started singing Happy Birthday. Everyone joined in, and Allen just sat there, a little stunned. Mana knew he'd be bombarded by questions about this once the festivities were over, but for now, the child seemed to be enjoying the attention.

The song over, Raine prompted Allen to make a wish and blow out the candles. Allen frowned, obviously thinking up a wish, and blew out all eight candles in one breath. Everyone cheered and applauded, making the child's cheeks red with both excitement and embarrassment.

The cheering done and candles removed, Karos started cutting the cake into generous chunks. He gave Allen the first chunk—the most generous of them all—and then passed the others among the rest of the circus. He carefully set the last cut piece aside for himself, then when no one but Mana and possibly Raine was looking, slipped it back with the rest of the cake, making it seem like it had been cut but not yet removed from the cake. Akuma couldn't eat, after all, and Karos had been able to hide that fact from everyone in the circus for at least half a decade and counting.

Mana watched Allen polish off his cake before they were all even passed out with a small sigh. Once again, he wondered whether Allen actually tasted what he shoveled into his mouth. "Don't eat it so fast," he scolded.

"But it's so good!" Allen looked at the four pieces left of the first cake and licked his lips. Mana obliged the birthday boy and gave him another slice—the one Karos put back—on the condition that the boy didn't inhale this one. Allen more than happily agreed and finished this piece in eight bites—two more than the first slice. Mana sighed, but this was probably the best he could ask from the boy. His appetite had gone into overdrive since joining up with the circus again, after all.

It didn't take long for both sheet cakes to disappear. Allen ate a whole half of one by himself, while the rest of the circus ate the rest. The birthday boy grinned happily at the mass amounts of cake in his stomach, but Mana knew the boy would have had room for more if it were offered, and he proved him right when everyone at last got to the "real" breakfast food.

"Birthday boy's presents first, okay?" Raine called, taking the top three presents off the stack in the corner. The cake and party were the presents from most of the troupe. The three Raine brought to Allen were from Karos, Mana, and herself.

Allen opened Karos's first. The boy's eyes lit up as he retrieved a deck of cards from the tiny box. He thanked Karos and pocketed the deck—he'd be playing with it later. He was even more excited by Raine's present, a pair of brand new boots (his old ones were almost worn through and much too small for his growing feet). These he put on right away and grinned at.

Last he opened Mana's present. Unlike the others, which were in boxes, Mana's was just in a colorful bag. Curious as ever, Allen unfolded the top of the bag and peeked inside. He pulled out one of the round Baby Cakes and stared at it a moment, confused. He popped one in his mouth, and his face melted into bliss. "Thank you, Mana!" he said, setting the bag down and throwing his arms around his father. "Those're really, really good!"

Mana chuckled. "They were my favorites when I was your age," he explained. "I figured you'd like them too."

Allen nodded, the blissful grin still on his face. Judging by the expression, the cakes must still have been as delicious as they were years before. The boy then let go of his father and went over to Karos. The Akuma bent down for the child to whisper something in his ear, then pulled a box out from behind his back for Allen. The boy thanked him and went back to Mana.

"I got something for you, too!" Allen said, offering his father the small box.

"You didn't have to, Allen," Mana said, accepting the box and looking at it. Karos must have gotten it for Allen to give him. He pulled the lopsided bow—Allen probably wrapped the gift, as everything about it seemed to have been done only with one hand—which easily came undone.

Inside the small box were round dumplings on a stick with a sticky sauce drizzled over them. _Karos definitely got these for Allen to give me,_ Mana thought, closing the box once more and setting it aside. He pulled Allen into a hug and thanked him for the thoughtful gift.

Allen nodded against his chest, then said in a quiet voice, "Merry Christmas, Father."

The clown's eyes widened. He couldn't have heard Allen right. The boy hated the idea of Mana being his father. Allen _couldn't_ have just called him 'Father.' And yet, Mana knew he had.

Allen tensed and stayed perfectly still in Mana's arms, as if awaiting the verdict on what he'd just said. He seemed nervous, waiting for the Pierrot's answer. Mana could practically hear what he was thinking. _"Does he still want me around?" "Will he still accept me?" "Does he hate me for saying that?" "Should I have kept my mouth shut and not said anything at all?"_

Mana gave the child an extra big squeeze to reassure him. "Thank you, Allen," he whispered. He didn't realize he was crying until the tears were rolling down his cheeks and landed in Allen's hair. "Thank you, _my son_."

Allen closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Mana felt him at last relax in his arms.

Someone tapped on Mana's shoulder, making the man look up. "Fatherly love is all well and good," Raine teased, smirking, "but some of us would like to give you presents too. Mind holding the waterworks off until after all the presents are handed out?"

Both Allen and Mana smiled. Allen's eyes were damp from tears as well, but he stubbornly wiped them away before grinning up at Mana and Raine. Mana smiled at Allen, then at his wife and teased back, "We'll do our best."

* * *

Get out all your "Aw, how cute" comments now. XD

I know I usually tell everything from Mana's perspective, but I wanted to give you a bit of a hint on what Allen was up to. Thus, the little Allen and Karos segment.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I suppose this is a bit of "Christmas in July" posting on my part. XD As always, if you see any typos, please tell me. I am forever grateful for the help.

Oh, and around the time DGM takes place, oriental things were popular in Britain and other European nations. Thus the mention of it in the chapter. Yay to watching/reading too much "Emma: A Victorian Romance"!


	12. The Magician and the Dog

Once again, Mana and Allen left the circus with a tear-filled goodbye. Even those that hadn't met Allen the first time had fallen in love with the kid, regardless of how often he might have accidentally gotten in their way. Just like before, no one wanted Allen to leave, but this time, Mana didn't offer to let Allen stay behind. There was no point in asking now. Allen had proved that he didn't want to leave Mana's side.

Time ticked by, and winter melted into spring. More months flew by, and soon it became summer once more. This summer was more mild than the last one, much to Mana's pleasure. The cooler temperature meant that he could perform longer, and being able to perform longer meant more money, and he aimed to take full advantage of this.

Today, Mana was juggling in a crowded marketplace, and his audience contained everyone from old folks on their way back from church to children who'd been dragged on errands by their mothers. He'd only been performing maybe an hour, but his hat already had a good number of coins. If this kept up, they'd be able to get enough food to make even Allen full. ...Probably, anyway.

After another hour, Allen was getting bored, and with boredom came the urge to wander. Ever since he'd gotten lost at the small fair, Mana hadn't let the child out of his sight, but now with the way Allen was squirming on the bench behind him... Mana sighed and gave in.

"Allen, why don't you go look around?" he suggested when there was a lull in audience. He took a couple coins out of the hat and handed them to his son. "Stay in the market and try not to get lost. Come back for lunch."

The boy's eyes lit up. "Okay! I'll be back!" he promised before rushing off into the crowd.

Somehow, Mana got a bad feeling from all this, but he couldn't call Allen back now saying that he'd changed his mind. Well, he could, but that would just make the kid think Mana couldn't trust him. Plus, there was another huge crowd of children and parents cheering for more juggling, and if he wanted to feed Allen, Mana couldn't refuse.

The day was very uneventful until lunchtime, when Allen didn't return. Mana scratched his head and looked around the marketplace. It was still crowded, so Allen might have just been caught up in foot traffic, but for some reason, Mana doubted that was the case. All that was left was that Allen was lost and he'd have to go find him...

"Mana!"

The clown looked up from the hat he'd used as a collection dish. "There you are. I was just going to go—" He stopped when he saw Allen's bloody and bruised face. "What—?"

Allen grabbed his father's hand and pulled, interrupting his question before he'd even gotten most of it out. "Mana, come quick! Hurry! It's bad! Really bad!"

But Mana didn't moved. He was too stunned by his battered assistant _to_ move. "What's going on?" he asked at length. "Who did this to you?"

"That doesn't matter!" Allen shouted, frustration clear in his voice. "If you don't hurry, he'll die! Please, Mana!"

'Die' was the magic word. "Who'll die?" Mana asked, quickly pocketing the rest the morning's earnings before allowing Allen to drag him through the market at a run. "What's happened?"

"Some kids were hurting him," Allen explained breathlessly as they rushed past people and stores. "I told them to stop, but they wouldn't listen, so I fought 'em off myself. He's hurt bad, Mana. You've got to do something!"

Mana was about to ask whom the 'he' Allen was talking about was, but when they reached the alley at the outskirts of the marketplace, the old clown knew instantly. There, sprawled on the damp ground, was an old dog. A scruffy brown terrier that looked like Nicoli when Mana had first picked him up, to be precise.

The dog lifted its head weakly to glance at Allen and Mana. It "wuffed" softly and wagged its tail once in recognition before letting its head drop back down. Allen gasped and rushed over to its side. The dog blinked wearily up at the child, as if to say, "Why'd you come back?" before closing its eyes and huffing weakly.

"Mana, you have to do something!" Allen cried over to his father.

"I don't think there's much I can do," Mana replied, kneeling down next to the dog as well. "He looks pretty beat up. I doubt there's much _anyone_ can do."

"Please, Father!" Allen begged.

Mana bit his lip. Since Christmas, Allen had started using the word 'Father' more and more often to refer to Mana, but it was still on rare occasion that he said the word to his face, since the child had gotten so used to calling him just plain "Mana." The way he said it now showed him exactly how much the child believed in and needed him. "I'll see what I can do," he said after a few moments.

Carefully, Mana lifted the dog off the stone street like a broken doll. The poor beast whimpered as his hands touched a particularly sore spot, but other than that, it didn't make a sound. _A couple broken ribs, some nasty cuts, and some internal bleeding, _he noted, seeing the small amount of blood that the dog seemed to have coughed up while Allen had gone. _This doesn't look good._

"Can you help him?" Allen asked, worry making his eyes wide.

"I'll see what I can do," Mana replied as he had before, "but I can't do anything here. We'll have to go back to the inn." Thankfully, that wasn't too far away from where they were at the moment.

Allen led the way to the inn, which was empty except for the innkeeper, who stared when they entered. "What in God's name happened to you?" she asked, digging a handkerchief from her apron pocket and dabbing at the blood on Allen's face. She also gave Mana a dirty look.

"The dog," Allen said, pushing away the handkerchief. "I was saving him, and he's in worse shape than me."

"Dog?" the woman repeated. Then she realized what the bloody mess in Mana's arms was. "What in the world?"

"It's a long story," Mana replied. "You don't mind if we—"

"No, go right on ahead," she said, stepping aside so that they could reach the stairs leading up to their room. "I'll bring up something for the poor little dears in a little bit."

Mana thanked her and followed Allen up the stairway, dog whimpering quietly with each step. By the time he reached the top, Allen was already standing impatiently in front of their room. Mana shifted the dog to one arm and unlocked the door.

"Allen, get a blanket," Mana commanded, and when Allen brought what he'd asked over, laid the dog down on the soft bedspread. The dog "wuffed" quietly and thumped its tail once in thanks before closing its eyes.

"He'll be okay, right?" Allen asked as Mana got some bandages from his things.

Mana bit his lip. He didn't want to lie to the boy, but telling him that the dog would more than likely die regardless of what they did for it didn't seem like a good choice either. So, he said, "I'm not sure." Technically, it wasn't a lie. Mana had no idea if the dog would live or not, even if the odds were against Allen's newest canine friend. Then, he said, "Go ask downstairs for some warm water and a rag, would you?" to distract Allen from the lack of uncertainty in his voice.

The boy nodded and ran out of the room, thumping down the steps. Mana sighed and turned back to the old dog. "You've been through a lot," he commented, gently touching the dog's forehead. "If you promise not to tell Allen, I'll help you best I can, okay?" The dug "wuffed" meekly in response and thumped its tail. Mana smiled and lightly traced a few magic symbols of healing over the dog's heart. The symbols glowed, and Mana whispered to them their duty.

That finished, Mana straightened up and sat in the nearby chair. "If nothing else, that will let you pass on without any pain," he told the dog. Healing spells could only do so much, and somehow, he doubted even his magic could save the dog before the injuries made his body give out.

The dog looked up at him with eyes full of understanding. He wagged his tail again to thank the magician before closing his eyes once more with a relaxed sigh. Mana leaned down and scratched the dog between the ears, and the dog's tail wagged a little at the small gesture.

"You're feeling pretty good right now, hm?" Mana whispered as the dog's tail thumped a little faster. "Probably better than you've felt in years."

The dog let his tongue loll out of his mouth and panted happily. Mana had to smile at this delighted little reply.

"Mana, I brought the water." Allen pushed open the door with his shoulder and carried the small tub into the room. He seemed confused by the dog's wagging at his coming in. "You're looking lots better," he commented, patting it on the head. "Did Mana give you something?" He looked up at his foster father with a small frown.

"Just a little something to make the pain go away," Mana answered truthfully. "Now let's get those cuts cleaned out." He knelt down next to the terrier and took a rag from in the hot water. He cleaned out the various gashes and had to wonder who it was beating the dog and how much danger Allen had put himself in. But once all the dirt was out of the creature's coat, the injuries seemed less severe. Well, the ones one could see, at least.

Carefully, Mana set to work patching up the few wounds that were still bleeding. There wasn't much he could do for the dog's insides, but hopefully the magic would do its job.

"Can we keep him?" Allen asked softly.

"We can't," was Mana's simple reply. "We'll hold on to him until we meet up with Raine and the circus, and then we'll give him to them, okay?" He then turned to clean the blood off Allen's face with another rag. The boy didn't seem injured except for the black eye that was steadily darkening and his nose, which didn't seem broken, and Mana would know a broken nose after so many years as a performer. Mana let out an exasperated sigh.

"Is it that bad?" Allen asked.

"No. Nothing a little time won't heal." _And a little magic,_ Mana added to himself. He almost wanted to laugh at how dependent he'd become on his ability, at how pathetic he'd become to trust so much in something like that, but with the trouble Allen got into, anybody would stoop that low. Well, it wasn't bad, exactly, but there was such a thing as "too much of a good thing." It was, after all, possible to become immune to the effects of magic, something Mana didn't want happening to Allen.

Shaking the unbidden thoughts away, Mana said, "I'll go get us some lunch."

"Oh, the innkeeper said she'd bring something up for us for free," Allen said. "She said anyone nice enough to save a dog deserved some food on the house." Surprise must have been written all over Mana's face, for Allen added, "I'm telling the truth. She really did say that!"

"I believe you," was all Mana could say, especially because the innkeeper was standing in the open doorway with a tray, looking rather amused by the two she was watching.

The innkeeper smiled at them both and set the tray of food on the table. "I hope the dog feels better soon," she commented, laying a bowl of some sort of ground meat on the floor by the canine in question. The terrier thumped its tail appreciatively and dug right in to the food she'd set down for him. "My! What an appetite you've got!" She laughed to herself. "I guess I'll be going, then." She curtseyed slightly to Mana and Allen before stepping out.

"That was nice of her," Mana said rather stupidly. He shook his head, realizing just how stupid he'd just sounded. Well, that didn't matter too much. What did matter was that they had some lunch.

The rest of the day passed without incident. Mana performed some more after lunch while Allen stayed back in the room with their newfound friend. That night, when they were both ready for bed, Mana told Allen once more that they wouldn't be keeping the dog. Rather, they'd give it over to Raine and the circus next time they saw them. Allen seemed a little upset by this, but once Mana explained that they couldn't afford to keep it, he half-heartedly agreed.

That said and done with, the two went to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Mana woke to find Allen prodding the sleeping dog gently. "Leave him be," he muttered, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"But he's not waking up," Allen said, poking a little harder in his determination to wake the dog.

_Oh..._ Mana rushed over to the dog's side. It didn't take a genius to notice the dog wasn't breathing, and the clown had to wonder if Allen was purposefully overlooking the obvious. "Allen, he's dead."

"He can't be dead," Allen replied simply. "He was just fine yesterday."

Mana bit his lip before saying, "He's dead, Allen, regardless of how he was yesterday. He was an old dog," he added quickly before Allen could argue. "He probably passed on in his sleep."

"But—"

"No buts, Allen," Mana stated. He grabbed a handkerchief from his things and started dabbing at the tears in the child's eyes. "He's gone to a better place." Or that's what Mana hoped, at least. Even he had no idea what lay beyond death.

"B-but..." The tears started rolling down Allen's cheeks despite Mana's attempts to dab them away. "H-he was fine yesterday. H-how come he died?"

Mana gave up on keeping the boy's tears back and allowed him to start sobbing over the dead dog. There was no harm in it. The practical side of him knew the Earl couldn't ask humans to resurrect _animal_ souls. Animal souls weren't strong enough to power the Akuma. Besides, a good cry might be all Allen needed to get over the dog's death. His more compassionate and understanding side knew better than that, though. It was time that healed all wounds, not crying.

"H-he was a good dog," Allen sniffled. "H-he w-was really nice and-and those people—"

"Allen, there's nothing we can do about that now." Mana petted his son's hair to try and calm him, if only a little. "The most we can do now is give him a proper burial and to let him move on, okay?"

Allen sniffled and tried the rub the tears out of his eyes unsuccessfully. "Why'd he die, Mana?"

Mana sighed. "All lives must end sometime, Allen," he said solemnly. "Mine and even yours will end someday."

"But I don't wanna die either," the child muttered.

"That's a long way off, Allen," Mana promised, patting the boy on the head. "Come on, let's give this little guy a proper burial."

The whole time Mana dug a small grave in the inn's backyard, Allen held on to the innkeeper, sobbing. It only took a few minutes to dig deep enough, but it felt like hours before Mana could lay the dog's body in the grave. Then it felt like another hour to bury it properly. "Any last words for him?" Mana asked, turning to his son.

The innkeeper gave Allen a gentle push to his father and the dog's grave. The child placed a couple flowers—courtesy of the innkeeper's little garden they were burying the dog in—on the mound. He muttered and hiccuped a few things between sobs, then stubbornly wiped his tears away, saying that it was stupid to cry.

Mana then pulled Allen into a hug and wouldn't let go until Allen pulled away like any other eight-year-old boy who felt he was being held far to long. That done, the clown whispered, "Go on inside and get some breakfast. I'll follow in a minute."

The boy nodded and scrubbed away the few remaining tears in his eyes as he went with the innkeeper.

Once they were inside with the door shut, Mana turned back to the grave. "You should get going, too," he said.

If anyone had been had been watching, they would've thought him crazy for talking to a mound of dirt. Unless, of course, they could see what Mana could see. Then they'd either understand, or think them both crazy, for sitting on the grave was a translucent terrier that was wagging its tail and panting happily. It "wuffed" loudly and put both its paws on Mana's knees, attempting to reach the magicians face for a big "thank you" slurp.

"Now, now," Mana muttered, taking the dog's paws and setting them back on the ground. "You really shouldn't be hanging around. Go move on to the big boneyard in the sky or whatever it is on the other side."

The dog cocked its head, thinking, then jumped up once more. This time, Mana's face was close enough to the ground for the dog to reach, and so its cold, transparent tongue was able to cover the clown with ghost dog slobber.

"Yes, I know," Mana said with a small laugh. "I get it. You're trying to thank me for trying to help you yesterday. You don't have to."

The dog whined and scratched at the man's pant leg to get attention.

"There's something else?" Under normal circumstances, Mana would have just left the dog, but ghosts were different than the living being. Animal ghosts could communicate better than their living counterparts, and often when one didn't move on right after death, there was a reason that one could guess. If they could see said animal, of course.

The dog bobbed its head in a nod (another example of better communication) and then ran around in a circle, as if to chase its tail, barking all the while. Mana frowned, not quite understanding. The dog growled low in frustration, then barked again. This time, Mana got the message.

"Allen will be fine," he replied, at last sensing what the dog was trying to say. "I'll make sure of it for you."

The dog wagged its tail wildly again in appreciation. It used Mana's knees for balance to slobber all over Mana's face once more before bounding off. As it ran, the dog became more and more transparent until, a few feet away, it disappeared completely with one last excited, "Wuff!"

"Rest in peace," Mana said, as was custom, before retrieving his handkerchief and wiping all the saliva off his face, which wasn't. He turned and headed back inside.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though it was a little sad with the dog dying.

Anywho, if you spot any typos, please tell me. Thank you!


	13. The Magician and Death

Allen was in bad shape. No, scratch that. Allen was in _really_ bad. The child was covered in a rash and muttering nonsense from fever. It had started out as just a small fever and coughing fits, something Allen had neglected to tell his father about until he coughed so hard, his throat hurt, but by then, Mana's miracle cure for all minor maladies wasn't enough. What was worse, the child had played it down and somehow managed to hide his coughs, so Mana _had_ given him one of his cure-alls, and then the child didn't tell him that it didn't help at all, which led to this point.

Now they were in a convent somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and it was complete luck they'd found the place. Allen had collapsed from fever and exhaustion—something Mana should've seen beforehand and cursed himself for not noticing—while they were walking, and one of the nuns had stumbled upon the two.

A doctor had come to check on poor little Allen there, and had declared he'd come down with the worst case of measles the man had seen in years. And there, right in front of the still conscious Allen, he said the boy probably wouldn't live much longer. Mana would have punched the man, but one of the nuns led the doctor from the room before he could. He heard later, though, that a group of Sisters let him have it for saying such things before children.

"Mana."

The clown tried to smile. "Do you need something?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"Am I really gonna die?"

"No." But the outlook wasn't bright. Mana felt horrible. Had he noticed earlier, Allen wouldn't have gotten this bad, and the child might have stood a chance. Now, though...

"I'm thirsty."

Mana nodded and poured Allen some water. The boy drank greedily. "Slowly, Allen," Mana said, but he didn't have the energy to repeat the command when Allen ignored him. It was like all the energy had been sapped from him when Allen collapsed.

He pushed the boy back down into his bed and tucked the covers in around him. "Try to get more sleep, okay? You'll feel better when you wake up." That was another lie, of course. Allen might _not_ wake up at all, and Mana knew it.

"Are you mad at me?" Allen asked feebly.

"Of course not," Mana replied. "Why would you think that?"

"'Cause you told me to tell you when I'm not feeling good, and I didn't."

Mana reached into his pocket and dabbed at the liquid streaming from Allen's eyes. "I wouldn't be mad at you for that."

"Am I gonna die, Father?" asked Allen once more.

The clown hesitated, then said, "There's a possibility, Allen. I don't want to lie to you about that, but I also don't want you to give up hope. If you give up, then you won't get better no matter what anyone does for you, understand?" He tried to smile and ultimately succeeded.

"You're doing it again," Allen murmured. "You're looking sad, even when you're smiling."

The door opened behind them, and Mana stood up quickly to face the intruder, for that's what he felt the person was, entering a dying child's room without knocking. Of course, when he saw who it was, it was hard to call the person such.

The person was a priest, and not just any priest. He was one of the modified Akuma, looking just as surprised at seeing Mana as Mana was to see him. That surprise quickly disappeared when he noticed Allen coughing behind the performer. "I've come to anoint the sick," he said in his stiff priest voice that he'd perfected as an Akuma. He nodded to the nun behind him, who muttered a quick goodbye before leaving the three alone.

The priest took a chair in the corner of the room over to Allen's bedside and sat down. "Child, my name is Father Michael. I'm a priest of the Catholic Church."

Allen nodded. He struggled to sit up properly, but both Mana and the modified Akuma pushed him back down. "No need to get up, Child. I just want to talk."

Allen blinked wearily up at the priest. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked hoarsely.

"Do you know what confession is?"

"It's when you tell your sins to a priest so God'll forgive you," Allen replied automatically.

"Very good." The priest smiled down at Allen's blotchy face. "Would you like to tell me your sins so they might be forgiven?"

Allen closed his eyes to think. "I don't listen to Mana all the time," he said after a few minutes of thinking. Another few minutes, and he said, "We don't go to church all that much. Only when we're with the circus." He opened his eyes. "That's all I can think of."

Father Michael nodded and said, "In the name of God, I absolve you of your sins, Child. As penance, you must say an 'Our Father.' You may go in peace."

Allen frowned at this. "Go where? I ain't going anywhere."

The priest chuckled and chose to overlook this. "Do you know your 'Our Father,' Child?"

"No," was Allen's simple response.

Father Michael chuckled again. "I'll ask one of the nuns to say it with you, all right?" When Allen nodded, the Akuma stood and said to Mana, "Care for a stroll, sir? It might do you some good."

Mana glanced back at Allen, who put on a brave smile for his father and croaked, "I'll be fine by myself. I'm kinda tired anyway."

"If you're sure," Mana said uncertainly. "I won't be far if you need me."

They went out in the hall, where Father Michael hailed over one of the nuns and asked her politely to teach Allen 'Our Father' for his penance. The Sister nodded and entered the room behind them, leaving the two alone.

"Is it safe to assume that that child isn't yours?" the Akuma asked as they walked down the convent's stairs and out into the courtyard.

"I picked him up somewhere," Mana replied vaguely. His eyes wandered up to the window where Allen's room was.

"I probably don't have to say this to you, but don't wish him back if he passes on."

Mana smiled sadly. "I know. I'm not stupid. People can't come back from the dead."

"You know the Earl targets people who lose those prematurely to illness or accidents," the Akuma reminded the performer. "You fall under one of those categories, and you know the Earl is still after you."

"I don't know why. I'm just a Pierrot, after all."

"A Pierrot with powerful magic and a joke of a price for it." The look Mana gave him was so dark, the Akuma actually flinched. "I'm just saying. It's not like your price is death or something horrible like that. As far as the Earl's concerned, you're useful to him because of that."

Mana sighed. "I know, I know."

The Akuma priest looked up at the changing leaves and said, "Master Walker, that child... Is he the one your brother left his memories to?" The performer nodded. "A terrible fate that child has, then."

"It can't be worse than death."

But the priest shook his head. "The Earl will hunt him, I'm sure, and he may turn the child into one of the skulls. Master Noah begged your case, but there's no way he would allow a child like that to exist without a leash."

That was true. Mana had escaped becoming a skull—a slave of the Earl—simply because his brother had begged and threatened to kill himself if anything happened to Mana. Allen would have no such person there for him, and the Earl had learned his lesson with the two brothers.

Before more could be said, though, one of the nuns came rushing out of the building. "Mr. Walker," she panted, "your son. He's—"

Mana didn't need to hear anymore. He ran past the nun and into the building with the priest and nun hot on his heels. _No. Allen! Please, be all right! Please God, for once in my life, don't take the people I care about away from me!_ He slammed open the door.

What he found was one of the Sisters leaning over an unconscious Allen. She jumped when the door banged open and said, "His fever got worse all of a sudden. He's fainted and I can't bring him 'round, no matter what I do."

"Allen," Mana cried, shaking his son's shoulder. "Allen, you have to wake up."

The child blinked open his eyes, but they were dull and stared right through Mana, as if he were looking at the land of the phantom of death instead of his beloved father. He didn't speak. He just stared through Mana a few seconds before closing his eyes and falling limp.

"Allen!" But this time, the boy didn't stir.

"Get a doctor," Father Michael instructed the Sisters. They both nodded and rushed off to do just that.

With them gone, Father Michael said quietly, "Is there a spell or potion that could help him?"

Mana shook his head. "No. There isn't anything that can cure someone about to die—" He stopped. "Wait, there _is_ something." He went over to the door and locked it tight. He'd need complete concentration for this, if it were to work. "It's a long shot, but it will save Allen. I'll go to Death's door in his place."

Father Michael stared at Mana in disbelief. "You're joking. Surely you're joking." But there was no sign of humor in the magician's face. "You can't do that. You know you can't. If Death comes for him, the only way to call his soul back is to—"

"But Death won't get his soul," Mana said in barely a whisper. He went back over to Allen and started tracing the necessary symbols on Allen's palms and forehead. "Death will come, and I will trade places. He'll take my soul to the afterlife, and leave Allen. Death won't take Allen's soul for this. We will exchange 'time,' so to speak, and he'll make a full recovery."

"This is madness! There has to be another way!"

"It's the only way." Mana finished the symbols and breathed them to life. _"Let me trade places when Death comes,"_ he hissed in the magic's language. The magic was confused by this command and wished to know why such a powerful mage would ask such a thing. _"I love this child dearly. Please, do as I ask."_ The magic sparked helplessly, unable to disobey the command but unwilling to do ask he wished.

There was silence in the room as Father Michael unlocked the door. "What's done is done, I suppose," he said at length. "How long until it happens?"

"We'll know," Mana said wryly. There was no way of telling until Death truly came.

"That won't be necessary."

Suddenly, Mana couldn't move. Everything felt cold. His breath caught in his chest, and everything was a downward spiral.

* * *

Silence. Then drips, like raindrops hitting a lake. But there weren't enough drops to be rain.

Mana opened his eyes. Above him was a moon that seemed too big. He couldn't move. He was paralyzed.

"That was a foolish thing you did, Magician."

Mana couldn't move his head to see who was speaking to him. He could tell by the voice, however, that it was a young woman.

"You can't cheat Death."

"So my spell didn't work?" Mana asked, surprised that he was able to move his lips despite his paralysis.

"Oh, it worked just fine. The ironic thing is that the child wasn't going to die."

Mana's eyes widened. "What? Then where am I?"

"You took his place in Death."

"But he wasn't to die."

The voice laughed quietly. "That is true. He wasn't to stay in the Land of the Dead, what you humans refer to as Heaven and Hell. He was, however, to slip into Death's folds. His God's Crystal would save him and pull him back to Life before he even had a chance to see the gates."

"So I'm literally at Death's door?"

"Yes."

"How do I get back?"

"There is no way back for a normal mortal," the voice said. "Not without a guide, at least." There were footsteps approaching Mana, then silence once more.

"Am I to go back with you?"

"You are." And a hand so pale it seemed made of moonlight itself took Mana's, and in a flurry of the most beautiful white feathers he'd ever seen, they were gone.

* * *

"Father! Father!"

Everything was fuzzy and much too loud. Where was he? Oh, that's right. He was in the convent. Why was he there again? Because Allen had gotten sick. But what was _he_ doing in bed and Allen doing out of his?

"He's waking up!" Allen half-sobbed to someone else in the room. His grip on the warm quilt covering Mana tightened as he burst into fresh tears.

Mana turned his head and stared blankly at Allen for a moment. The child's rash had gone completely away and he seemed in perfect health now. How was that possible? And how had he himself ended up in bed? He struggled to remember, but nothing came. It was like he'd gotten amnesia and couldn't recall _anything_ that had happened since Allen was on the edge of death.

"So he is," Father Michael said, scrutinizing the performer. "Allen, why don't you go get your father some water?"

Allen nodded and scampered off.

Once he was out of the room, the former Akuma turned and sighed. "You realize how much trouble you got yourself into?"

"What are you talking about?" Mana asked, trying to sit up. His body felt much too heavy for him muscles to lift, though, and he soon gave up the futile struggle.

"You passed out after casting that spell."

"What spell?"

Father Michael gaped at him. "You're joking. You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

The modified Akuma groaned. "Nevermind. You got so worked up over Allen's illness that you tried to cast a spell—which obviously didn't work, by the way—and fainted because you pushed yourself too hard. You've been unconscious almost a week, and since his recovery, the boy hasn't left your side."

He still didn't remember what the Akuma was talking about. What spell? But he knew better than to ask. Still, he had the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something—something important—but his mind was foggy. There was no chance he'd remember anything but a black hole with the shape he was in.

For a moment, panic stung the Pierrot. Magic had different prices. What if his price was changing? What if fate had decided keeping him from having children wasn't enough now that he had Allen tagging along and had moved on to taking his memories instead?

But that was ridiculous, he soon realized. Prices never changed, and he'd been well aware of his since he first cast a spell. If it was possible for the cost to change and it had, Mana would know, and he could tell it hadn't when he calmed down enough.

"I brought some water!" Allen showed the glass proudly.

"Set it down here, child. You're father's still weak and will need some help sitting up to it."

"I'm not an invalid," Mana protested, but it was true he felt too tired to move and had to have Father Michael shift him into a sitting position and help him drink the glass of water.

"He'll be up and about in a day or so," Father Michael assured Allen when he handed the glass back to the child. "At least, I think so."

Allen nodded, seemingly no longer worried now that his father was awake.

"Now, you ought to head to bed yourself, Allen. It's getting awfully late. We wouldn't want you getting sick again."

This time, Allen was about to protest, but a look from Mana silenced that in his throat. "Yes, sir," he said, a little grudgingly, before one of the nuns led him back to his own room.

Father Michael smiled good-naturedly before dimming the lamp at Mana's bedside. "You ought to get more rest yourself. Wouldn't want _you_ having a relapse yourself." And on that mysterious note, he left and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Tadah. Chapter. ...I'm really starting to wonder if I just like to abuse Allen and Mana or something...

As always, people pointing out typos is always appreciated.

Thank you for reading! And for those who were wondering, I did look up the symptoms of measles, so they are completely accurate.


	14. The Pierrot and the Practice

"So where are we going, Mana?" Allen asked, holding his father's hand as they walked down the street.

Currently they were in a large city, the perfect place to make a lot of money. Granted, cities like these also attracted a lot of circus performers, so the likelihood of them being the only performer in the city was slim to none. At the moment, Mana was looking for any sign of such a circus as living with a circus always was cheaper in the end than staying on your own in a big city.

"Hey Mana!" Allen pointed to a large poster stuck on the side of a building. "There's a circus in town! Is it Raine's?"

Mana shook his head. It was a poster in Spanish, which was to be expected when one was in Spain, and he could only make out bits of it—he spoke French semi-fluently, not Spanish. From what he could tell, the circus wasn't Raine's. The poster wasn't the same one she always used, but it seemed familiar somehow.

It took him a few minutes, but he figured it out the translation, and it made him less than happy. "Let's go."

"Mana?"

"I've been with this circus. The pay's bad and—"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mana Walker."

Mana groaned. This was what he'd been trying to avoid by his plan to skip town. "Hello, Cosimo," he said, obvious by his voice that he was less than thrilled. He may have been bad with faces, but when it came to jerks, he'd always remember. "What do you want?"

The clown looked strange without his make up. Unlike Mana, who was rather handsome behind his made up mask, Cosimo was a perfect caricature of all things ugly. Maybe this was why he beat children and dogs so viciously.

Cosimo frowned, and his ugly face became uglier. His was a face made for make up. "What do you think?"

Allen took a defiant step forward. "You just want to be a jerk."

The other clown's face twisted into a dark grin. "So this is where the diseased brat went," he commented. "I guess losers flock like birds." He laughed with his two friends who flanked him on either side. Mana had found in his years that cowards and Akuma always traveled in packs.

Allen stuck his tongue out at the three. "You must be losers, too, 'cause you're more birdlike than us."

Mana took Allen's hand. "Come on. Let's go." _Before you do anything else to make this worse than it already is,_ he added mentally. The situation was already deteriorating without Allen's help. If they stayed much longer, who knows what Cosimo could and would do to them.

Cosimo's buddies blocked their way. "Leaving so soon?" the clown asked. "You've only just gotten into town." His voice was a mock of friendliness. "You ought to stay a while."

"You never were much of an actor, Cosimo," Mana said calmly. He pulled Allen closer to him to protect the child from the psycho. "What is it you want from us?"

The clown's ugly smile turned dark and twisted. He cracked his knuckles threateningly. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked, feigning innocence. "I just want to talk and catch up with an old friend."

It was a struggle, but Mana was somehow able to keep his face straight as he said, "Again, bad acting." His fight or flight instinct was kicking in. He couldn't fight—not without his magic, at least—so the only option was to run. But where to? Cosimo's huge cronies were blocking their only escape routes. Their only chance was if a police officer happened to walk by, and what were the chances of that?

Apparently, the chances were good that day. A police officer turned the corner just at that moment. It took the man a few moments to take in the scene before him, and then he raised his baton. "What's going on here?" he shouted in Spanish.

It didn't take much to guess what he said, and Allen jumped at the chance. Unlike Cosimo, the child was a decent actor. Not that it took much talent to play the innocent victim in this situation. "They jumped us!" he cried, crocodile tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "We were lookin' at the circus poster," he pointed at the poster in question to make sure the officer understood, "and they came out of nowhere to beat us up!"

Mana wasn't sure how much of what Allen said made it through the language barrier, but the officer seemed to get the gist of it. The man marched up and grabbed Cosimo's arm, said something in Spanish that probably equated to, "You're coming to the station with me," and hauled the psycho clown after him. He shouted something to Cosimo's cronies, who seemed to speak at least a little Spanish, and the two gorillas followed.

The danger past, Mana rounded on his son. "Allen, why couldn't you have just kept quiet?"  
Allen pouted. "Someone's gotta stand up to him."

"That someone didn't have to be you." Mana gave and exasperated sigh. "You could have gotten hurt, Allen."

"So?"

"So?" Mana repeated in shock. "Allen, you could've been killed!" That was a bit of an exaggeration, but Cosimo certainly wouldn't have let Allen off easy. "Don't you remember what he did to you back then? To Nicoli? Cosimo's not right in the head, Allen, and you don't challenge people like that to fights!"

The child shrugged. "I'm used to it. He beat me up every other day."

Mana gaped at his son. No wonder the boy had such a problem trusting people. Anyone would have that trouble if they were beaten all the time. Why hadn't anyone stopped Cosimo? Were they all afraid of him, too?

"Are we leaving town?" Allen asked, rousing Mana from his thoughts.

"We should. If Cosimo's here, then—"

A hand fell on Mana's shoulder, making him jump. He spun around to face the owner of that hand and almost collapsed from relief. He'd thought Cosimo had escaped the officer for a moment.

"I thought it was you!" The woman who spoke was rather portly with flat nose that looked like it had been squished against something flat for a long time, reminding Mana distinctly of a pig. "Mana Walker, long time no see!"

"I'm sorry, but who are you again?" Mana didn't recognize the pig-like woman, but that was probably because he had issues remembering faces. Still, how could someone forget a person like that?

Allen tugged on Mana's sleeve. "That's Mrs. Curio. She's the cook for the circus."

"Oh! And if it isn't little Allen!" the woman gushed. She pulled Allen into her meaty arms and gave him a bone-crushing hug. "So you ran away with Mr. Walker, you little cutie!" Allen fought out of her hug and hid behind Mana. The woman laughed, and her over-sized stomach jiggled like jelly, just like Santa Claus. Perhaps she was somehow related to the legendary St. Nick.

"What're you two doing back in town?"

"Traveling," Mana explained. "And we were just leaving."

"Oh, but you can't leave without a good meal," Mrs. Curio insisted. "Why don't you come back to the circus with me. Besides," she added, "they need a new clown."

Allen shook his head. "They've got Cosimo. He hates it when there are new clowns."

"He just up and quit." Mrs. Curio shrugged. "It was the strangest thing. He was his usual, complaining self yesterday, and today he quit. We all knew he was off his rocker, but it's like something possessed him to quit. So then, how about it?"

Mana searched his son's face quickly for any sign of dislike of this suggestion. The child didn't seem to care too much, so the older clown agreed, much to the portly woman's delight.

She led them through the city to the edge, where a large circus was still setting up tents and wagons. "Here it is," she said sweetly. "Home sweet home."

Next she led them through the mess of activity to the main tent, where the man in charge was standing, shouting commands to those setting up the insides of the tent. Allen knew he wouldn't want to be bothered about someone as minor as a clown and his son right now, but that's exactly what Mrs. Curio did before he could stop her.

"Richard." The man ignored her and continued shouting to those setting up the high wire that the wire wasn't where he wanted it. "Richard!"

The man, Richard, jumped a good three feet before spinning around and snapping angrily, "_What?_"

"We have a new act. You remember Mana Walker, don't you?"

Richard frowned and stared hard at Mana for a moment. "Walker... Walker..." He nodded when he remembered. "Yes. Mana the clown and his amazing dancing dog, Nicoli." The man's memory always amazed Mana. He was even more amazing than Raine and _her_ impeccable memory. "It's too bad about your dog," he added. "I'm willing to reimburse you. We all know it was Cosimo's fault."

"No, it's quite all right," Mana said. "That was two years ago, and Nicoli was an old dog anyway. He wouldn't have had much longer anyway."

"Still, I fell terrible." This was probably a lie. If Richard felt terrible about anything, it was that the cute little dog that had made their circus rich was dead and gone and unable to perform. "I feel I have to do _something_ to make it up to you."

"It's really no trouble," Mana insisted.

Allen pulled on Mana's sleeve. "Just take it already," he muttered. Mana sighed. He'd really have to teach Allen what was and wasn't appropriate to say in this kind of situation.

Richard, meanwhile, just noticed Allen. Again, he frowned and stared hard at the boy, recognizing him but unable to remember who it was or how he'd met the child. "Oh. It's you." He sounded less than thrilled. "Where've you been for so long, anyway?"

"With Mana." Allen instinctively flinched and ducked behind his father. It was just as bad to anger the ringmaster as it was to anger Cosimo, apparently. "He asked me to go with him."

Richard was about to argue this fact, but Mana interrupted before he could start. "I did. I figured you wouldn't mind, since he only seemed to do little things around here. I'm sorry if I presumed too much."

"No, it's quite all right." Richard seemed surprised, as if he couldn't believe anyone would actually _want_ Allen. Somehow, that really ticked Mana off. "So, I assume you want to join up with us? I'm sure Mrs. Curio here has told you that Cosimo quit for some reason. You won't have to worry about him." The poor ringmaster seemed desperate for a new clown.

But Mana knew better. Everyone had to work at this circus. Richard wasn't nice like Raine. "What about Allen?" he asked flatly. "What are you having him do?"

"Probably feed the animals or pass out food like last time he was with us," Richard said offhandedly.

"But I don't wanna," Allen whispered to Mana. At least he knew well enough not to say that directly to their current employer.

Richard, however, heard this, despite the hustle and bustle of the people setting up. "You work for your dinner, kid. Same as before." He didn't seem angry, thankfully. "Unless Mr. Walker's taught you some tricks..." he trailed off hopefully. He was definitely desperate for performers. Perhaps more had quit than just Cosimo.

"I can teach him some," Mana said at the exact same time as Allen said, "I know some." They both looked at each other, Mana a little confused at what tricks his son could possibly be referring to and Allen a little irritated that Mana had just contradicted him.

The ringmaster laughed. "You might want to agree with each other, but sure, I'll give him a shot." There was a loud crash as someone dropped something that sounded really heavy and important. He spun around and shouted something in Italian at the strongman who had dropped a dumbbell. He then said to Mana, "Have a routine with the kid prepared by tomorrow. If it looks good, we'll include him in the show." He then went back to shouting at his various go-fors.Mana held back a groan. A day wasn't a very long time, especially for what he had to do.

* * *

"So what on Earth were you referring to when you said you knew some tricks?" Mana asked as he pulled a couple things from his suitcase to teach Allen with.

"Card tricks. Karos taught me some."

Mana sighed. "Allen, I hate to say it, but the card tricks Karos showed you aren't going to work here. If you notice, he never does those _during_ a show."

"But why not? They're really neat!"

Again, Mana sighed. "It's because they're hard to show a whole bunch of people at once. He only ever does those before and after the show, when there aren't as many people. He can't do those when there's a huge audience, and that's what Richard wants right now."

Allen pouted. "Then what am I s'posed to do? I don't wanna take care of the animals again. The lions tried to eat me last time."

Something didn't sound right about that. "You had to go into the cage to feed them?"

"No." Allen scuffed his foot on the dirt floor. "Someone pushed me in."

It didn't take a stretch of the imagination to know who that _someone_ was, but Mana decided not to pursue this issue further. He picked up a couple juggling balls and showed them to Allen. "I'm going to teach you how to juggle," he said calmly.

"But me hand—"

"Doesn't matter," Mana interrupted. "I'm going to teach you a way so your hand won't get in the way." He set down all but two of the colorful balls and juggled them with one hand. Allen's eyes widened. "This one's a little difficult, but I don't think it'll be any trouble." He caught the balls and handed one to Allen. "Start with one, and we'll move on from there."

Allen nodded and tossed the one ball in the air and caught it with both hands. Mana shook his head. "You need to catch it with just the one, Allen, or else you won't be able to juggle it right."

The child tried again, but couldn't catch the ball. He chased after it and returned, a little disheartened. Mana told him to try again, and again, and again, until at last Allen caught the silly thing.

"Great." Mana handed Allen another ball. "Try two."

Once again, the first couple tries were complete failures, but with endless patience and encouragement from his father, Allen was able to get it to work. "I did it!" he cheered. He juggled them again, and again, and again. "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

"Wonderful!" Mana clapped for Allen, and the boy beamed at him. "Want to try another trick?"

Allen nodded, so Mana set to work teaching Allen how to juggle with _both_ hands. It was a little difficult, seeing as Allen couldn't catch the balls with his bad hand, but between the two of them, they figured out a way to make it work. If Allen threw the ball up with his good hand, he could redirect the ball with his deformed hand when it came down so that it would go back to his good hand. It would only work with juggling balls, but it would work for this circus that was short on clowns.

Had time allowed it, Mana would have taught Allen more tricks, but it was getting close to dinner, and Allen couldn't concentrate on an empty stomach. They went back to the trailer Richard had assigned them and waited for their meal there. Unlike Raine's circus, where everyone ate together like a family, Richard's circus ate separate from each other in their own trailers. Granted, this was probably because they were afraid of Cosimo's psychopathic tendencies and so didn't eat together for their own safety, but it was still lonely this way.

They'd reached their trailer when Mrs. Curio came with a huge tray of food. "So how'd the practice go?" she asked, placing the tray in Mana's capable hands. She must've known Allen's tendency to eat everything in sight.

"Pretty good." Allen stood on tiptoe and tried to grab the little loaf of bread on the tray. Mana noticed and lifted the tray out of his son's reach.

"It's getting there," Mana added. "We'll have it down by the first show."

"Then you better hurry. First show's the day after tomorrow."

"That soon?" Mana looked at the big tent in the center of the clearing. It was true that it was completely set up, but all the other circuses waited at least three days to start so the performers could get settled and the show sufficiently promoted. Even Raine, Miss Hurry-It-Up, waited three days.

"Well, we got here two days ago," Mrs. Curio said. "We'd start tomorrow, but it's Christmas, and who's going to see a circus on Christmas?"

Allen's eyes lit up. "It's Christmas tomorrow? Really?"

Mrs. Curio tilted her head. "And why are you so excited? You never liked Christmas when you were here before."

"My birthday's on Christmas," Allen replied proudly. "I have the best birthday ever! Raine always makes a _huge _cake and I get presents. Raine gave me these boots last year."

"Oh really?" Mrs. Curio raised an eyebrow at Mana, as if to ask "who's Raine?"

"Raine runs another circus we sometimes join up with," Mana explained. "She tends to be overzealous with parties and uses anything as an excuse to celebrate."

Allen shook his head. "She's not overzealous," he said. "She's just really, really nice."

Mrs. Curio smiled down at Allen. "I have to get going," she said to the clown and his son. Allen took the tray from his father and went in the trailer. Before Mana could follow, the cook added, "Don't think we'll do anything for him or his birthday, all right? We run a business here, not a charity."

Mana sighed. "I realize that."

The woman nodded. "Good." She turned on her heel and walked off.

She was the kind of woman Mana hated. She pretended to be nice in front of children when there was a possibility of her getting something from it, but that was just a mask. She was only kind to children because that was what was expected of her. In reality, she was just a fraud. She probably hated children.

"Mana, you coming?" Allen asked from the door of the trailer."Yes. One moment."

* * *

Allen was disappointed the next morning when only Mana wished him a happy birthday and Christmas. Everyone else in the circus was too caught up in preparations for the show the next day to even think about Christmas, let alone one little child's birthday. When it was time to show Richard Allen's act, the boy was so down that he didn't even want to perform. Mana did the best he could to encourage Allen to try, but the depression left him unable to do his best.

This circus wasn't good for Allen, Mana decided. The child was usually so happy and lively, but since coming, he'd seemed down. "I'm sorry," he said to the ringmaster, "but I think we'll be moving on sooner rather than later."

That left Richard furious. "But you haven't _done_ anything yet!"

"I realize that."

"What about the food you and that brat ate?"

Another fraud. "You can take it out of the money you kept from me last time," Mana said. Richard's eyes widened. "What, you thought I was just another stupid street performer to cheat out of payment? I know what you promised me for my routine and what you gave to me. Besides, you still owe me for my dog."

Richard was about to argue this, but Mana was on a role. "What, you're going to deny owing me for my dog, too? What happened to repaying me for Cosimo's actions? You said so yesterday."

"Get out of here," the ringmaster growled. "I never want to see your face again."

"Gladly." Mana picked up his suitcase in one hand and took Allen's in his other.

They left the circus behind them and headed on their way. Strangely enough, Mana felt good about this. It was about time someone had stood up to that jerk. But Allen, he noticed, was trudging along next to him.

Just as Mana was about to ask what was wrong, Allen spoke. "I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"We left 'cause of me."

Mana couldn't help it. He laughed. Allen stared up at him like his father had lost his mind. "No, we didn't leave because of you. We left because that ringmaster is a jerk and we don't have to deal with him for what little he gives us."

"But the money—"

"Don't you worry about that, Allen." Mana dug in his pocket for his watch and looked at the time. Quarter to noon on . There was a bakery down the street that was open for Christmas. "How about we go and have cake for lunch?"

Allen's eyes widened. "Really?"

"It's your birthday, and we ought to celebrate it properly." Mana noticed that Allen was starting to cry. He quickly pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to the child.

"I thought you forgot," Allen said before blowing his nose.

"How could I forget?" Mana took back the handkerchief when Allen finished with it. "I said happy birthday earlier, didn't I?"

Allen nodded. "It felt like everyone forgot.""I'll never forget it, Allen. Promise." That said, Mana took Allen's hand in his once more and led him down the street.

* * *

You know, I really don't know how I feel about this chapter... I like it and I don't at the same time, but I just can't tinker it into perfection. It could just be my perfectionist tendencies kicking in again...

Also, I realize that the latest DGM Chapter has completely destroyed all the theories I presented and will present in this fanfic. I will not let the facts mess with my plot, however, and I request that you all don't complain too much about it. XD

Anyway, as always, if you see a typo, please tell me. It helps me a lot when you do. :)


	15. The Pierrot and the Pig

Autumn came once again, surprising Mana as much as it did Allen. They'd lost track of time in the mundane days of summer, performing at all the fairs and festivals and in the parks on the streets. Allen was getting very good at being a clown and was able to juggle even more balls than Mana ever dared. The audiences ate up the performances of the little clown and gave them quite a bit of money. Needless to say, they ate quite well that summer.

Now, though, fewer and fewer people were going outside to partake of a sunny day because of the cold, and those were getting scarce as well. Fewer people meant less money, and even though there were many generous tips from the few passerby they saw, it wasn't nearly as much as they'd once received. Before, this wouldn't have been a problem. A year ago, Allen would have been perfectly fine on the meager earnings of a traveling clown, but a year ago he wasn't growing.

Over the summer, Allen's height had jumped a good four centimeters, more than likely due to the mass quantities he was able to chow down on. He'd outgrown all of his clothes and shoes, so Mana had had to buy new articles of everything. He didn't mind because they had the money then, but now... Now Allen's appetite refused to lessen from overdrive.

"I'm hungry," Allen complained. He didn't complain too often anymore, so he had to be ravenous to say anything.

"There's not much I can do about that," Mana replied with a sigh. He'd tried to ration their money for the past month, but they'd finally run out. They'd been juggling for the couple passerby for an hour without even a coin in his top hat to show for it. That meant they wouldn't be eating. Again.

"But I'm hungry. We skipped breakfast."

What was Mana supposed to do? Pull a sandwich out of his hat? "Be patient, Allen," he said, though he was losing his own patience at this point. Allen might not have noticed, but Mana had skipped lunch the day before and had most of Allen most of his dinner. Allen might have been hungry, but Mana was practically starving himself.

"Can't we get something to eat? It's almost noon."

"Allen! Just stop!" He didn't mean to shout, but he had, and he had to make amends. "Sorry. Just... be patient a little longer. We need to get some money before we can get lunch."

"But why can't we eat over there?"

Mana looked where Allen was pointing—a building with a large sign. "An eating contest? Really, Allen? Those are always impossible. We'll have to pay for all the food you eat if you don't finish."

"I can do it. It's only ten plates, and the prize is a lot of money. Plus, I can eat as much as I want after."

It was a good thing no one was walking by. They would have stared at the nine-year-old like he was mad. Mana, on the other hand, actually believed he could. "All right. But you're washing all those dishes if you don't."

Allen grinned and ran across the street.

An hour passed, and Allen didn't come back. _He's washing dishes,_ Mana thought with a sigh. He picked up his hat containing only a couple coins for his troubles and wiped the make up off his face with a handkerchief. Then he crossed the street and opened the door only to find Allen with a stack of at least twelve empty plates next to him and a collection of people staring.

"That your kid?" someone asked. He was probably the waiter, judging by his clothes.

"Er... Yes."

"He's eaten seventeen plates already."

"Is that right?" Why didn't that surprise him? Oh right. Because Allen's stomach was a bottomless pit.

"Can you get him to stop?" The waiter seemed worried, like he'd get in trouble if the boy continued eating.

"It says all you can eat after your first ten plates," Mana pointed out calmly.

"I know, but that doesn't mean you can eat _all_ of it."

"Another, please!" Allen called, holding up yet another empty plate. Mana didn't want to think about what everyone thought of his piggish son.

"I'll see what I can do." Mana walked over to Allen, took the empty plate from him and set it on the stack. "You've had enough, Allen. Anymore and you'll explode."

"But it's all you can eat."

Mana felt the poor waiter's eyes boring holes in the back of his head. "It doesn't mean you can eat _all_ of it," he said, repeating the waiter's words. "You'll make yourself sick."

Allen pouted. "Fine." He hopped out of his chair. His audience seemed amazed that his stomach didn't bulge at all despite eating almost twice his weight in food. There was applause, but Mana dragged Allen over to the waiter.

"I believe there's prize money?" the clown prompted.

"Ah, yes, of course." The waiter went to the kitchen and a few minutes later came out carrying a couple bills. "Take this and be on your way."

Mana nodded and counted the money quickly as they left to make sure they weren't cheated.

"Now you can eat, too!" Allen said brightly.

"No, no, it's quite all right." The sight of so many empty plates made Mana feel sick. Not because it was gross, but because it made him worry about Allen's eating habits and a possible growth spurt in the near future.

"But you've gotta eat."

Mana smiled and patted Allen on the head. The boy was still short, despite his growth spurt over the summer. He'd probably be tiny his entire life. "I'll get something after I change. How about that?"

Allen grinned and nodded in agreement.

* * *

Despite what he told Allen, Mana didn't eat much. He simply went out for a short walk and picked up a roll from a bakery. How could he eat after Allen ate so much? _He'll need new clothes again if he keeps eating like that,_ Mana thought, but he was resigned to the idea. Allen had hardly grown at all since he'd met the boy; it was about time he got a little taller. If that meant buying him new clothes ever couple months, so be it. He'd just have to find Raine soon and beg for money.

He stopped on his way back and ducked into a doorway. Akuma. Two of them. _Not good._ Mana looked for a way around the Akuma wearing the skins of a pair of upper class women. One, he hated to say, was extremely beautiful.

"Eliade, where's that party tonight?" the one asked in a mechanical voice. A level one. Easy enough to avoid.

The one she was talking to, however, wasn't. "You aren't going," she snapped. "You'll blow my cover. Go look for hobos to kill." And with that, she stalked off, powdering her nose as she went. The second Akuma, without any commands to follow from its superior at the moment, walked away as well.

Mana let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. That had been close. Too close. He might have been able to run from a level one without it realizing who he was, but a level two would definitely know to be on the look out for the escaped magician-turned-Pierrot. He'd let his guard down. They'd have to leave, and soon.

When he returned to the inn they were staying at, he shook Allen awake—the child was taking a nap—and said as calmly as he could, "We have to go."

Allen rubbed his eyes sleepily. "How come? We just got here, Mana."

What was Mana supposed to tell him? That a bunch of murderous monsters were in town and after him? Mana wouldn't tell Allen that, even if he _were_ old enough to understand. It was too dangerous. "We just have to."

"Why? Is Cosimo here?"

That was a perfect excuse! "Yes. I saw him on my way back. He didn't see me, but it's best if we left town."

Allen nodded and quickly threw his things together back in his bag, not that there was much littering the room at the moment. Minutes later he was packed and ready to go.

They'd spent the night, and so checking out early didn't seem too strange. The innkeeper was understanding enough to let them go without paying for the room for the morning—apparently, her son had run off to join the circus—and let them on their way.

So, hand in hand, they continued on their travels.

* * *

Short, I know, but I wanted to make sure you all knew I was still alive. See, school work's been eating my life. And writer's block, though until this point I've been denying it.

I went to write this chapter thinking I could do some of the cool stuff I plotted for my final couple chapters only to realize that I had a whole nother year of Allen's life before Mana died... DX That's the reason for the huge time skip from winter to the fall of the next year. I needed to skip so I wouldn't be wasting you, the reader's, time with random filler chapters.

Eliade could be here. She ditched Akuma duty for Krory at some point and seeming stopped killing for a while. She could be wandering around at the moment. :)

Hopefully the chapter wasn't too bad. XD I know it's not worth the wait, but please bear with me.


	16. The Pierrot and the Monsters

Spring came on hot and dry, but they'd finally found a respite in a shady tree and a cool stream. Allen was splashing in the water, laughing as a fish swam by his feet and looking for shiny pebbles in the water. Mana, meanwhile, sat under the tree, watching and smiling at Allen's exuberance. Only moments before the child had been complaining that he was about to faint from the heat. Mana was glad they had come across this place. They'd needed a break in their travels.

Clouds obscured the sun. The wind picked up, chilling the air as it ripped through the branches. Allen ran over to where Mana sat and pulled his socks back on, still laughing. "A storm's coming," Mana commented. "See how dark those clouds are?"

"How far are we from town?" Allen sat down and dug his lighter jacket from his things. He shivered. He'd gotten soaked in the stream, and the wind was cutting right through him.

"Not far, I don't think. There should be one just over those hills there."

There was something unnatural about this weather. Sure, storms came without warning on occasion, but why had it gotten so cold all of a sudden? Even the wind couldn't explain that.

Mana stood and brushed himself off. "We should get going. We don't want to get caught in the rain."

Allen nodded and scooped up his things.

Too bad they wouldn't get farther than that before the trouble started.

"How far is town?" cried someone. A whole group approached, umbrellas at the ready for the approaching weather.

The boy turned. "Not far."

Mana pulled Allen behind him. These people were Akuma. He could tell. And was one was using his power to create the storm.

Lightning. Thunder. Allen flinched, and the Akuma took its chance.

One, the woman who'd asked how far the town was, transformed into a level two. "Then there's no one to hear you scream," it said, its voice booming like a thunderclap.

Allen let out a cry of shock and surprise. "Allen, run!"

The Akuma grinned. This was what it had been planning on. "Sure, run," it taunted. "My friends here—" the other three Akuma transformed as well, "—will kill him while I handle you."

Mana cursed and hid Allen behind him again. There was nowhere to go. They were forcing Mana's hand.

Allen let out a small cry and collapsed to his knees behind him. Mana took his eyes off the Akuma for a second and saw the child gripping his Innocence, then turned back. The monster had been waiting for such an opportunity and fired.

The bullet whizzed past Mana's cheek and imbedded itself in Allen's shoulder. The boy let out a scream, a terrible, horrible scream, of pain. "Allen!"

The black stars that were the virus were spreading. Blood was everywhere. "No, Allen! Stay with me! Please, don't die!"

The Akuma let out a screeching laugh. "He won't survive! He's a goner."

"I wouldn't say that."

Before the Akuma could react, there was a gunshot, and the Akuma was destroyed. The others spun toward the intruder, a familiar man with a hat topping his red hair and a cigarette in his mouth. He raised his gun and destroyed the other three before they could fire their cannons.

"Cross, I—"

"You owe me big time," was the man's only reply. A few steps brought him to Mana's side. "Just heal him. You haven't lost your touch, have you?"

"I'm only human. I can't remove the bullet, or I'll get infected, too."

Cross rolled his eyes. "The bullet's over there." He gestured to where the bullet had imbedded itself in the dying tree. "It shot straight through."

In his panic, Mana hadn't noticed, and now he felt like an idiot. He felt even stupider when he realized his panic was for nothing. The virus was receding, and the bullet hadn't hit anything vital. The virus was what had made him panic. In the time Allen had been with him, Mana hadn't even thought of the Innocence.

"Hurry it up. The Akuma's gone, but that doesn't mean the rain is."

The first raindrop fell on Allen's pale face. Mana knew he had to hurry. He pressed the healing magic into the wound, closing it in seconds. Then he asked the symbols that sealed his memory to repress this attack.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Cross asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The less he knows about the Akuma, the better."

"You can't protect him forever."

Mana hesitated. "I know."

"Then why try?"

Mana scooped up his unconscious son. "Because I want to let him know there are kind people out there, and that things aren't always as bad as they seem. And," he said quietly, "I want him to have the freedom I never had." He and his brother had been taken by the Earl when they were young, hardly older than Allen was now. Allen couldn't suffer the same way.

Cross shook his head, where Timcanpy sat staring. "Good for you. I'm leaving."

As he left, the heavens opened up.

* * *

Allen woke with a start, much to Mana's relief. The child didn't remember a thing, and when he asked what had happened, Mana replied simply that the boy had gotten sleepy and nodded off on the way.

"So you carried me?" he asked.

"Yep."

"That whole way?"

"Yep."

Allen bowed his head. "Thank you, Father."

"It's no trouble, Allen."

"But I'm too big to carry anymore. You said the other day."

Mana smiled. "I just wanted you to walk on your own to feet because I was tired. You're still light as a feather." And that worried him. Allen was ten. He should've been much bigger than he was.

_Well, one thing at a time,_ Mana thought. "Shall we get some dinner?"

But the earlier attack was still on Mana's mind the entire time. Even Allen noticed, but he'd learned to not question it. The child probably thought Mana was worrying about money again.

Though nothing happened the whole night, Mana couldn't fall asleep, and when they moved on the next morning, Mana could hardly stay awake. Allen, though, took control of the situation and was able to negotiate a ride on the hay cart.

Allen was growing up, Mana realized, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

* * *

A chapter at long last. Aren't we all excited? I know I am. XD I finally broke out of my writer's block! Yay! Let's celebrate!

Anyway, as always, please correct anything if you see mistakes. And thank you for reading.


	17. The Magician and Fate

Cold woke Mana from his deep sleep. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Raine was cuddled up against his chest against the chill, blankets tucked firmly around them both, and it was dark save for the sliver of moonlight that filtered through the shutters of the trailer. There was nothing that should have woken Mana except for that cold.

"What's wrong?" Raine grumbled sleepily. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Why's the door open?"

That explained the cold, but it didn't explain the feeling forming in the pit of Mana's stomach. He climbed out of bed, ready to cast some magic if it were needed.

"Mana?"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Allen. What are you doing out of bed?"

"I had a bad dream."

"About what?"

Allen scrubbed at his eyes. He must have been crying. "I don't remember what it was about." He looked up pitifully at his father. "Can I stay with you?"

Mana looked at Raine, who yawned and crawled back under the covers. "So long as he doesn't wake me up again, I don't care. G'night." And she was out again.

Allen crawled into bed between Mana and Raine and snuggled up to his father. The dream must have been terrible, if it had been enough to drive Allen to seek comfort as he had so long ago.

Once Allen was comfortable and asleep, Mana closed his eyes. But now that he was awake, he couldn't ignore the bad feeling he had. He felt like something terrible was going to happen. He took a deep breath and muttered in the language of magic for help, for a vision.

For a long moment, nothing came, but then an image appeared full force. Allen sitting before a grave. Snow collecting on the boy's shoulders and in his hair, but no will to brush it away. Eyes that were empty of tears. And the grave… the grave was Mana's.

Mana sat bolt upright. No. What was this vision? It couldn't be right. He climbed out of bed again and started pacing. What did it mean, this vision? Was it literal? Was it symbolic? No, it was certainly literal. Mana would die in the near future and leave Allen behind.

He looked down at Allen, deep in a fitful sleep. He had to leave Allen behind. If Mana were to die, he couldn't take Allen with him. It would crush Allen's heart to be left behind, but he knew it would destroy the child to see Mana dead.

Quietly, Mana changed out of his pajamas and pulled on his traveling clothes and boots. His mind was made up. He couldn't take Allen with him.

"Where do you think your going?"

"Raine, go back to sleep."

"Don't tell me you're running off and leaving him here."

"I have to."

"No you don't."

Mana at last looked Raine in the eyes. She didn't look happy to be wakened again. "You don't understand."

"Then make me understand."

"I saw—" His mouth felt dry. "I saw my grave, Raine, and Allen devastated in front of it. I can't take him with me."

Raine looked down at Allen's restless form, then walked over to Mana. "You can't just leave him. It would kill him."

"I'm afraid that if he knows I'm dead, he'll die." He knew Raine knew what he meant. She knew what Akuma were and how they were created.

"You can't abandon him. He'll never trust anyone ever again."

"I'd rather him have to learn to trust again than to be dead!" Mana snapped, then realized what he said. "I'm sorry."

Raine wrapped her arms around him. "I know what you mean, but I don't want you to be alone."

They were silent for a short time, then she asked, "How certain is this vision?"

"Crystal clear. It'll happen soon, no matter what I do to stop it." Mana couldn't see her face in the darkness, but he knew Raine was crying. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to get this involved."

Raine shook her head in his chest. "I know. I knew this day would come. It doesn't make it any easier."

"Promise me you won't bring me back."

Her voice shook as she said, "I swear on my life."

"Take care of Allen."

"I will." She shook with the tears. "I will."

"Someone may come for Allen one day soon. If Karos trusts that person to take Allen, you'll have to let him go." He felt Raine nod against his chest again. "I'm sorry, Raine. Know that I'll always love you and Allen."

As he walked away from his beloved wife and son, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him. He spun around, ready to blast whoever it was with magic. If he had to die, he would die fighting.

His stalker was quite unexpected. It was Allen, dressed hurriedly in his unbuttoned coat and untied shoes. The boy was breathing heavily from running.

"You made Raine cry," he said.

Mana's face softened. "I had to. I'm sorry."

"What did you say to her?"

Mana crossed the gap between them and patted Allen on the head. "I have to go, Allen. Stay here with Raine."

"Why?" Allen spat, his voice shaking. "Don't you want me anymore?"

He knelt down to look Allen in the eyes. "There's something I have to take care of, something I can't take you with me to do, and I probably won't be able to come back to you."

"Why not?"

"Allen." For once, Mana wished he had discussed death a little more with this child. "If I could go back to you, I would."

"Don't stop," Allen snapped. "Keep walking. Until the day you die." His eyes were strong. There was no hesitation in his voice. "You taught me that. I'm coming with you. It's my only way to move forward."

That face, so much like his brother's. Mana closed his eyes. He had told his brother to stay behind then, and that's what had caused all of this. Mana wouldn't make that same mistake twice. "Allen, you have to promise me something."

"What's that?"

"No matter what happens," Mana swallowed thickly. "Now matter what happens, if we get separated and I can't come back to you, don't wish me back. All right? You have to stay strong and keep on walking."

Allen nodded, and hand in hand, they continued on into the night.

* * *

The snow wouldn't stop outside the inn's window. The weather had gotten so bad that there was no way the two could keep going. Allen was shivering before the fireplace in the tavern, drinking hot cocoa and eating a warm cookie. Mana, meanwhile, was sitting close to the door, tapping his foot impatiently.

He had to find General Cross. That much was certain. If Mana was going to die, he had to give Allen to someone he could trust to keep the Fourteenth's memories locked up. He sighed. No, that wasn't it. No one but Mana himself could keep that seal going—his brother had made sure of that. Mana just wanted to be sure Allen was safe with someone who wouldn't kill the child for those memories.

Allen wandered over to his father and sat down with him. "Are you okay, Father?"

Mana tried to smile at his son, but found he couldn't. During this past week it had gotten more and more difficult to pretend like nothing was wrong. "No. We have to keep moving."

"How come we never stay anywhere long?"

"Because we have to keep moving to make money."

Allen frowned down at his mug of hot cocoa. "Are we in that much trouble?" No they weren't. Because he knew he would die soon, Mana had cut back on his own diet, setting aside money for his son. He knew he wouldn't die because of this. Visions only showed what was true before they were called, so the vision itself wouldn't cause Mana's death.

"Allen, it's your bedtime."

"But I'm not tired."

"Now, kiddo." Mana gave Allen a gentle push to the stairs. "I'll be up in a second, okay?"

"Kay." Allen ran the whole way up the stairs.

Mana couldn't help the smile that touched his lips. He hoped desperately that his vision had been wrong, but there was no way that was possible.

"Cute kid."

That voice. _Oh God! Please not her! _Mana spun to face a small child who looked far too pleased with herself. "R-Road!"

"You've been a real problem, Walker," Road sneered. "You've evaded us long enough."

Mana glanced around quickly. There were too many people. No, half of them were Akuma. The others weren't paying the least bit attention. Still, casting a spell would cause too big of a fuss. Allen might get involved then, and there'd be no chance of the boy's survival.

Instead, Mana felt behind him. His hand touched a knife. It wouldn't do a bit of damage, but it might be enough of a distraction to lure her away from this place and Allen. He grabbed it and thrust it into her chest.

He'd guessed right. Road was taken by surprise. She was bracing herself for a magic attack, not a knife to the heart. That gave Mana his chance. He pushed past her to the door and ran out into the snow.

The cold knocked the breath from him, but he knew he had to keep moving. If he stopped, Road might remember the child. He had to—

Before he could take another step, an Akuma had caught him in its clutches. "What should we do with him, Lady Road?" it asked. "Perhaps we should crush him?"

Road stormed out of the inn and tore the knife from her chest. "I was going to offer you a place back with the Earl," she hissed. "But you've shown where your loyalties lie." She glanced up at the lighted window in the inn above her. "We won't kill you quickly. We have to set an example."

"No!" Mana shouted. "You can't!"

Road cackled mercilessly. "Oh, but I can, Walker." She looked at a nearby horse and cart. "We have to leave a body so that pathetic little boy can find it." Her lips curled into a mockery of a grin. "And I have the perfect way to do it."

* * *

The pain was unbearable. Crushed ribs. A punctured lung, perhaps. Mana felt like he was drowning, and he probably was in his own blood. There were people, faces everywhere. The closest was a child's.

"Mana! Don't die!"

"Allen." Mana knew that face. He took the boy's hand. "Don't stop," he croaked desperately. "Keep walking. Until the day you die."

The tears wouldn't stop streaming down the child's cheeks. "Don't leave me all alone!"

The pain was dulling his senses. _I love you_. The words wouldn't come out. _Don't wish me back_. He couldn't speak anymore. The world was becoming hazy. No matter how hard he tried to hold on to life, it kept slipping through his fingers. It was like he was falling asleep. He was falling into a sleep from which there was no waking. _I love you, Allen._

* * *

I apologize that it took so long to write this up. School took over my life, but this story is almost finished. The final chapter will be up in just a moment.


	18. The Soul and the End

Dull whiteness, but nothing else. Mana was sitting on a hillside. He was somewhere between sleep and awake, on the edge where you can still see the dream but can no longer remember. No cold. No heat. The snow touching his face passed right through.

Choked sobs, then silence. Mana turned his head and saw a child sitting before a grave, no tears in his eyes, nothing but an empty expression. Someone who'd lost everything, even his own will to live. Mana knew this child.

Mana tried to move toward this child to comfort him, but something rattled and kept him from coming closer. Chains. Mana was tangled in two long chains. He looked to the child who was beyond weeping once more. _What's wrong?_ The words made no sound.

A shadow appeared behind the gravestone. A tall fat man stepped out, an oversized painted grin on his face. "Would you like me to bring your daddy back from that God you hate so much?" he asked.

Mana recognized this man. He knew this man. The Millennium Earl! _No!_ He tried to tell the boy. He tried to fight the chains binding him off. _Don't trust him!_ Overwhelming grief forced Mana to his knees. The chain had done it when he grabbed it. It had crushed him in his own grief for his brother and for the child before him.

The boy looked up at the Earl. "You can bring him back?"

_Don't!_ Mana shouted. _Allen! Please!_ He fought off the chain that contained his grief. It fell away and vanished. He tried to rip off the next and felt overwhelming love for Raine and Allen and regret for leaving them. Why was this happening? Why?

"Of course," the fat man replied. He gestured behind him, where a skeleton-like doll now stood. "Just call out his name. He'll be sure to hear." His eyes flashed at Mana.

_No! Don't! Allen!_

"Mana!" Allen shouted, his voice shaking with tears he could no longer shed.

If it were possible for the dead to feel pain, Mana did now. He was picked up and thrown into the Akuma. The remaining chain squeezed tighter, twining suffocatingly around Mana and attaching itself to the skeleton.

"A-Allen," the body sputtered.

Allen's dead eyes sparked with something. "Mana?" He walked toward the skeleton, dazed, like someone let into the light for the first time.

"H-how could you?" the body asked. "How could you turn me into an Akuma?"

The boy stopped. He looked lost. So lost. The Earl grinned. "That's right, Mana Walker, and now your mine. Kill this boy and wear his skin!"

The body moved on its own. It raised an arm and swung down with a blade, cutting Allen's face and eye. Stunned, the boy touched his eye and stared at the blood on his hand. Then the Akuma spat out metal cords that wrapped around the boy to strangle him.

"Curse you, Allen Walker!" the body shouted.

_No! Allen!_ Mana tried to shout. He wasn't saying any of this. The body was using his voice against him. _Don't listen to it!_

Tears ran from Allen's good eye. Then his hand glowed and exploded.

A claw. A huge claw that seemed to move on its own. It smacked the Akuma away, sending it flying.

There was no pain for Mana, though. Only warmth. The Innocence wouldn't hurt his soul, only his prison.

The claw moved on its own, dragging an injured and unwilling Allen with it. "No!" the boy sobbed. "Run Father!" he shouted.

The Innocence had broken the body enough to allow Mana to speak. "A-Allen," he managed, the words truly his. "I love you. Please destroy me."

The claw closed around the Akuma and smashed it to pieces. "Mana!"

* * *

Nothing was holding him there, but still Mana stayed. He couldn't leave Allen, not like this, not with the boy sobbing, his hair bleached white and a scar over his eye because of the curse. Mana knelt before the boy, stroking his hair as he'd always done when the boy had had a nightmare, whispering words of comfort he knew the child couldn't hear.

Allen didn't react to the crunching of feet in the snow, but Mana did. He spun to face the intruder, even if he could do nothing. His fists fell uselessly to his sides. "Cross?"

If the general could see him, he ignored the ghost. "Would you like to become an exorcist?" he offered the child.

The boy looked up, broken for a second time. He didn't seem to understand the question.

"Exorcists fight Akuma," Cross explained, his voice surprisingly gentle. "They're demons that trap souls. They're toys for the Millennium Earl to control for all eternity." His face softened. Mana had never known the man to be so kind. "You have an anti-Akuma weapon inside you. With it, you can free the souls within the Akuma."

"So Mana's…?"

Cross nodded. "He's probably gone to heaven by now." He offered a hand to the child. "Will you become an exorcist?"

The boy took the general's hand.

Mana smiled. Allen was in good hands now. _Take care of him,_ he said to Cross, though it was obvious that they couldn't see him. He turned away and took his first steps to whatever lay beyond death. At last he could rest.

* * *

Yay! It's over. I promised I wouldn't end it with Mana dying, and technically I kept my promise.

Before anyone points it out to me, I know the dialogue with Cross is probably dead wrong. I didn't have the manga on me while I was writing this scene, but I think I got the gist at least. And that's all I wanted. …Allen's memory of all this is probably hazy at best anyway. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I'm sorry that it took so long for me to finish this story. I hope you can all forgive me for taking far too long.

Thank you for reading and sticking with me this long! I truly appreciate it!


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